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Council Approves Indicative Route
Not so much an exercise in local democracy as a simulation of it. Tonight Dudley Council heard an hour of
reasoned and articulate speeches - from all sides - on the subject of the 'west of Dudley' bypass,
and then, in a bewildering (as far as the public gallery was concerned) murmured blur lasting two seconds at the most,
agreed and approved the proposal to add the
Scott's Green to A449 link road to the Unitary Development Plan.
Cllr. Sparks opened the debate with a swipe at - we presume - other councillors and the media for creating 'mischief' about what he
said was "merely re-iterating Council policy" (this contradicts the views of the Council officers present at the
recent North Dudley Extraordinary Meeting, who were extremely keen to stress that this was not just an
existing old plan dusted off). He said that there was widespread recognition that a strategic bypass was
necessary to avoid falling behind other regions, and that we owed it to our children to make this decision.
Cllr. Fraser-Macnamara said that he had not called the North Dudley Extraordinary Meeting to create mischief, but
to keep constituents informed. He had since informed the Brierley Hill Chairperson about the concerns expressed by Pensnett
residents, and believed that a similar meeting may now be organised for them. His main point was not so much against
the concept of a link road but to emphasise the need to come up with a "definitive line" for the route as soon as possible.
When this is known he plans to call another North Dudley special meeting.
Cllr. Finch made a similar case, not arguing against the need for such a road but wanting to know where it will
come out on the Himley Road. He also highlighted the issue of gridlocked traffic down through Gornal village and past two
schools.
Cllr. Stanley also accepted that improvements were needed, but in the right place; the indicative route
would interfere with a (proposed) Site of Special Scientific Interest and Local Nature Reserve at Barrow Hill, and the
Pensnett Railway Walk, for example. He asked what the term 'indicative route' means - it neither confirms nor denies
anything and causes misery to people who have to live with uncertainty till 2011 and beyond. He also felt that if the
road removed a bottleneck from Russell's Hall, only to deposit it in Gornal, this would achieve nothing.
Cllr. Stanley mentioned that Staffordshire Council had not been consulted. To Yampy, this statement did not appear
contentious; he was merely repeating the sentiments of the Council officers at the North Dudley Extraordinary Meeting,
who used this as the reason why they could not give any idea of the indicative route from the Dudley/Staffs boundary
to the A449. However, as we will see later in this article Cllr. Sparks took offence to it.
Cllr. Evans also agreed that a link was necessary, but if it came out by High Arcal then it would be a main route
into an already congested Sedgley.
Cllr. Sheppard 'deeply regretted the attitude' of Cllr. Sparks who, he said, wanted to 'concrete over' everything. He
felt that the Multi Modal Study was progressing perfectly well until it was 'mugged' by 'self seekers'from the
'irrelevant' Chamber of Commerce and Advantage organisations (declaration of interest: Yampy has reason to feel
much the same about these organisations!). He went on to predict that the opposite of regeneration would occur; this road
would make access to Merry Hill easier, not Dudley.
Cllr. R. Burt though that it was Cllr. Sparks who was being 'mischievous' in saying that this proposal was simply
re-iterating Council policy, when it had been dropped ten years ago. He urged that we should 'forget this crazy scheme',
and that Liberal Democrats would only support plans with a positive environmental impact.
Cllr. Malcolm Davies offered the opinion that Dudley was the largest town in the world not to have
a direct rail link.
Cllr. Millward said that she was not so 'apoplectic' as Cllr. Stanley on the matter (and they are on the
same side!). She is not opposed to the bypass as we do need a 21st Century approach, but said that further consultation
was necessary.
Cllr. Caunt made an interesting comparison with Newbury which, despite all the objections,
is now pleasantly calm. He felt that Pensnett High Street is gridlocked in the same way that Newbury was. His
view was that the sooner the Council determines an actual route and consults those who live along it, the better.
Cllr. Kettle was very much in favour of the road, using economic justification relating to our
low business rents and average wages.
Cllr. Patrick said that there was a flaw in Cllr. Caunt's 'Newbury' comparison; their bypass was desired by their
population because they wanted peace and quiet, whereas the main point of the proponents of the Dudley scheme is
that it will make Dudley busier. Cllr. Patrick said that the real answer to M5 and M6 congestion was to widen
them, not slough off the traffic onto more minor roads.
Cllr. Winterborn said that a bypass will take work away from Dudley rather than bring it in.
After this stimulating and broadly good-natured debate it fell to Cllr. Sparks to reply and wind up. He began by
accusing Cllr. Stanley of lying (under protest he later said that he didn't say Cllr. Stanley lied, he said he was
a stranger to the truth). The 'lie' was that Cllr. Stanley had mentioned that Staffordshire Council had not
been involved in the indicative route discussions. Nothing could be further from the truth, said Cllr. Sparks,
blissfully unaware of the fact that he had just shot down the reason given at the North Dudley Extraordinary
Meeting for the non-attendance of invited Staffordshire Council officers (that they felt there was nothing to discuss
until Dudley Council had decided on their indicative route).
The above is an important point for anyone who attended the Extraordinary Meeting, because more or less all of those
present that night found it amazing that the line of the proposed indicative route could not be continued beyond the Dudley
boundary to its exit point in Staffordshire (Dudley ends and Staffordshire starts just beyond The Crooked House).
Now Cllr. Sparks has admitted that Staffordshire have been involved
every step of the way - so what is the big secret? Where is the exit point?
Cllr. Sparks did not confine himself to this attack; he said that Cllr. R. Burt was using 'weasel words', that
the Liberal Democrats were a 'rag bag' collection of people and, after a point of order had been briefly
considered to establish whether these comments were acceptable, he resumed with "as I was saying before I was
so rudely interrupted.." To Yampy, only one councillor behaved in a rude manner yesterday evening.
Cllr. Sparks then had the sheer audacity to conclude the only vitriolic speech of the
evening with the words "we must bury petty little differences".This is the person driving the link road proposal
folks.
Then came the real surprise for those members of the public new to council debates. As soon as Cllr. Sparks
finished his final sentence the Mayor asked if the motion was agreed, there was a vague mumbling sound from the chamber,
and she then said that it was carried! With two giant electronic 'scoreboards' hung up above the Mayor we were expecting
to see who had voted for the proposal and who had voted against, otherwise councillors might express their reservations
for the benefit of the press and public gallery, and then vote the opposite way to support a party position.
It was an anti-climactic end to an interesting debate during which Yampy felt that all points of view were well
aired and, crucially, it was clear that Gornal concerns about the need for early exit point clarification had caught the
ear of many councillors.
The motion having been approved, the next Council meeting to progress the matter will be on 17th December. There
now begins a six week period of public consultation between 11th October and 22nd November, during which time any
objections must be made. Anyone unsure of their Councillors' contact details can find them at
www.dudley.gov.uk.
If you have any views on this subject, why not email us at
admin@yampy.co.uk, or
contact your Gornal Councillors
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