The support of our local elected representatives has continued to grow. We would wish to thank all of those councillors who have earnestly represented the views of local people and supported our opposition to the red route proposals. We will shortly be recognising this support both on this website and by individual emails thanking those Dudley MBC Councillors who have said NO red route.

The information on this page is put together in good faith from information received from a variety of sources. If there are errors or omissions then please let us know, we will be happy to correct them.

Local Councillor Pat Martin is a stalwart supporter of the NO red route action group and has been active in attending resident protest meetings . She states that she has not come across one councillor who agrees with the red route. Councillors Musk and Banks are also opposed to the red route, indeed Councillor Musk gave us his first hand experience of traversing the A461 daily...."As one who regularly travels from Dudley to Stourbridge via Brierley Hill, I believe that there are three main “bottlenecks“ which create backlogs of traffic and are responsible for almost all the jams experienced along the route. These bottlenecks are: 1) At the traffic lights where the A461 Stourbridge Road meets the A4036 to Merry Hill; 2) Brierley Hill High Street; 3) At the traffic lights where Vicarage Road meets the A491.

In my opinion, the Red Route proposals will do absolutely nothing to improve traffic flow at bottlenecks 1 and 3, and will not significantly improve the situation along Brierley Hill High Street.

The proposals are, therefore, unnecessary and a waste of taxpayers money, serving only to hinder the everyday activities of those who live and work in the area.

Rest assured that I and my Amblecote Ward colleagues, Cllr. Pat Martin and Cllr. Colin Banks, are vehemently opposed to the Red Route plans and will do all in our power to stop them being implemented."

These Amblecote Councillors have 'headlined' their opposition in the latest edition of their newsletter.

The newsletter did not scan very well but here is a summary of what these 3 Councillors are agreed on...

Cllr. Pat Martin said, “The Red Route scheme will consist of red lines being painted down the sides of roads so that you will not be able to park or even stop outside your own front door at any time”.

‘Of all the daft ideas, this is the daftest. Have they ever looked at Brettell Lane? They come out with these ludicrous ideas of having additional off-route parking areas, but why would you want to park your car miles from your home?”

Cllr. Jim Musk said, “Not only will the Red Route frustrate the everyday activities of people who live and work in the area, it is unlikely to meet its stated aim of improving traffic flow”.

“Most congestion along the route is not caused by parked vehicles. As such, any scheme which seeks to improve traffic flow in this area by eliminating parking is doomed to expensive failure.”

At the Brierley Hill Area Committee on Tuesday 2nd September the presentation of our Action Group representative was well received and many of the councillors were actively supportive of our opposition. The meeting of the Dudley Area Committee on 4th September went even further with the Chair Cllr Rahman putting a proposal of opposition to the red route to the meeting. THANK YOU Dudley Councillors for your unanimous vote AGAINST the red route.

We have contacted other Councillors who are key players in this decision - this is the Executive Committee who will make the final recommendation on 19th NOVEMBER (subject to change…details will be circulated). These have been sent this letter (click here) and have been invited to visit the website on a regular basis.

Angus Adams from Norton
David Caunt, the Council Leader, from Sedgley
Michael Evans from Sedgley
Charles Fraser-Macnamara from Sedgley
Les Jones from Pedmore and Stourbridge East
Particia Martin from Amblecote
Peter Miller from Kingswinford South
Terry Powell from Pedmore and Stourbridge East
Karen Shakespeare from Halesowen North
John Woodhall JP from Halesowen South

As we map the EXTENSIVE future red route proposal we will be advising the elected representatives in the areas likely to be affected so that they will be prepared for the furore that is likely to be  generated in their constituencies and wards.

We invite the elected representatives, MPs and Councillors alike, to reject the red route proposals and encourage solutions that are much more appropriate to the communities of 'Urban Villages' that exist across the West Midlands. We are NOT London, nothing like it and don't want to be!
 

We find the responses of the senior employees of Dudley MBC disturbing. It seems that they are following the 'Centro quango' line rather than sounding out what our elected representatives (and their bosses!) are telling them. Accordingly a letter from the Action Group has been sent to Graham Isherwood  and copied to his boss John Millar. To see a copy of this letter click here.

Mr Isherwood presented his report to Brierley Hill Area Committee on 14th October. Unfortunately it does contain references to the highly flawed and devious questionnaire produced by Faber Maunsell. The questions posed were 'leading' to answers favourable to the proposers and as a result the answers were 'misleading'. It should be noted that our opposition group advocated that for this reason  residents should not complete the questionnaire but should simply write across it NO RED ROUTE - have these returns been discounted as 'spoilt papers'?