Will 2008 be the year in which Centro, the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive, finally receives Government approval for the £400 million Birmingham and Black Country Metro tram extensions?
If the signs emerging from Whitehall are anything to go by, the answer is likely to be no.
Almost three years after Transport and Works Act approval was given for two new lines, there is little sign of any practical progress. Indeed, the whole project appears to have become bogged down in a stand-off over road pricing between the Department for Transport and the seven West Midlands councils.
In order to pay for the Metro extensions, Centro and the councils must submit a bid to the Government's Transport Innovation Fund - a pot of money expressly designed to encourage applications for road pricing pilots.
The message from the DfT is clear enough. If the West Midlands wants money for new tram routes, it must volunteer to run congestion charging experiments. This is what Ministers like to call their carrot and stick approach - motorists get the pain by paying a levy to drive to work, while passengers gain through better public transport.
The West Midlands councils, rightly in our view, have refused to be blackmailed.
There is no political or public support for congestion charging and the local authorities would be mad to volunteer to carry out the Government's dirty work, even if that meant being handed a £400 million bribe.
A bid for £1.7 billion has been submitted by Centro to the TIF, which would pay for the Metro routes as well as significant improvement to train and bus services. The Department for Transport's reaction to the bid - "further work is needed to develop a coherent and realistic strategy that is grounded in strong evidence and represents value for money" - does not sound promising.
Further delays in submitting a full TIF business case makes it highly likely that Centro will have to apply for an extension of the Transport and Works Act powers, which run out in 2010. But is a business case that does not include proposals for road pricing likely to be approved by the Department for Transport?
Scrapping the Metro extensions could be tempting for a Government looking to save money, particularly since Ministers could quote Centro's own research which concluded that a fleet of fast buses could be delivered at half the cost. It is time to stop prevaricating and to make a decision. ..SUPL:
