Yesterday morning I had 2 minutes to ask the 20 gathered at our Halesowen Pensioners meeting if they wanted the Dudley Tram to come off the railway into Merry Hill Shopping Centre or, to stay on the railway to connect with the national railway network.
There were lots of blank faces. Some incomprehension. No enthusiasm for either option, but the upshot was 4 wanting the tram to come off the mainline railway into Merry Hill; 2 put their hands up for getting the tram to meet the trains at Stourbridge. Last week the committee felt they could not decide one way or the other.
On the 12 March, it was announced that the WMCA is spending not, now, £15 BILLION by 2040 on mainly Metro trams and Sprint buses but £6.1 BILLION between 2017 and 2032 on mainly Metro and Sprint. This vast expenditure has no democratic authority, whatsoever. There have been no discussion groups, no debates in a single council chamber and no voting anywhere. The TfWM/WMCA compliant Committees and Boards will automatically rubber stamp the decision without a murmur of dissent or, possibly, even a question! THIS IS AUTOCRACY AND CORRUPTION, NOT DEMOCRACY WITH ORDINARY PEOPLE AND STATE PENSIONERS PUT FIRST AND FOREMOST.
At a time of severe pensioner poverty from the multiple crises confronting the nation, this is in no way good enough. Low income pensioners and the WASPI women and all low incomes need this money much more than the idiocy of the vast and unnecessary extravagance of swapping buses and trains for trams.
You are the Campaigns officer, Brian in the West Midlands Pensioner movement. You are influential and important. It is vital that you take this seriously and act on what I have written here, please.
It is so typical of the WMCA directors, Council leaders and councillors that they wish to help the very wealthy Merry Hill SC owner and the property manager by giving them, for free, a tramway rather than helping low income groups and struggling families to pay their bills.
What will WMPC do, Brian?
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