Both Andy and Richard are 'Yes' men to whatever the CA want. Both are spineless and have always wanted immoral Metro at up to TWENTY TIMES more expensive to construct per Km than rebuilding a railway. £7 m/Km to rebuild the 50 Kms Borders Railway through the Southern Uplands of Scotland when it opened in 2015. Contrast that with the scandalous cost of Metro tramway Eastside extension at, now up from £133 m/Km to £152 m/Km. This is sheer greed for a totally unnecessary tram. It shows irresponsible financial spending, to add to the overspending at the CA.
No money to insulate the homes of the poor because the money is being stolen from them for impressive but immoral Metro, of all things!
No money to cut finite fossil fuels by implementing the Nine Action Points from the W Mids Climate Coalition.
No money to put passenger and freight trains back on our surviving urban railway lines of 106 Kms in the region. Only for trams at between ten to twenty times the cost!!
No money to address the climate crisis because the funds must go for grandiose projects like the Commonwealth Games in 2022; for 150 miles and 8 lines of Metro extensions by 2040; for the demolition of perfectly sound buildings for the latest architectural fashion ... All accelerate the exhaustion of fossil fuel reserves and climate problems..
The purpose of Mayor is simply to be the mouthpiece, the PR person for the CA. The power lies with the CA leadership team of council leaders and their Chief Execs whom I am constantly helping out by guiding and suggesting what they need to do. But to no avail!!
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