Governance changes to involve councillors BEFORE going to CA

Proposed items for discussion

I would like us to talk about these matters, please at our Teams meeting on Wed 17 March at 11 am.

1. Governance - full, frank and fair discussion to involve all councillors, and at full council, to hear both/all sides of every issue before voting.  Edinburgh City Council did that over their tram last decade and the tram extension to Leith and Newhaven in 2019.
2. Greater scrutiny of construction costs of innovative transport modes like Metro and Sprint and, greater scrutiny of Metro track maintenance costs before a decision to proceed is put to the WMCA Board members.  And only after the seven councils have properly, fully considered and voted on whether or not to proceed.  Those seven decisions are then brought to the Board meeting.
3. Disadvantages of proceeding to be fully laid out as well as the advantages, eg the extremely high greenhouse gas emitting in construction, of the two biggest concrete crash barriers I have ever seen, put in the Five Ways underpass that, with the trams, means that buses can never return.  And, possibly not to Broad Street, either.
4. Aside: I love trams because they look great, glitzy and glamorous. The problem is that for all their attraction, we now have a slower and worse journey into the city centre from the west. We either have to change and wait for the tram or stay on the bus and have a longer and slower ride. This is not progress!
   
5. Construction cost comparison, as here:
    Like for like comparison of infrastructure buil...
6. Was the demolition of Perry Barr flyover because of Sprint?
7. What are the full implications of ULR (Stourbridge Shuttle), the LR test track for 2.2 Kms, Metro LR all being put on a former mainline railway that, for 100 years, brought passengers from London and Oxford to Dudley Railway Station and the Black Country?
8. What are the implications for freight that might need to come off the Camp Hill line in Brum and be diverted via the 120 Kms, half-finished but already built, Worcester, Black Country, Derby mainline?
9. Why has it taken 70 years, to only now for Andy Street to be able to make headway with the railway industry over the joint running of passenger and freight trains, when this was the norm for about 100 years?
10. Is the joint running of fast regional trains over the full 120 Kms mainline railway between Worcester, Dudley, Derby, with slower tram-trains, all on one set of double tracks, seen anywhere else in the world?
11. What plans do you have for the 3 Kms Pensnett branch line from Moor Street, Brierley Hill north to A4101 High Street, Pensnett?
12. Comparison study of Fare-Free Public Transport (FFPT) that is now seen in Dunkirk, Tallinn and Luxembourg - and many more in E Europe and around the world.