You had to be at the New Street Station funding announcement to appreciate the sheer ghastliness of it all.
Gathered in a cellar deep under the station, which bore more than a passing resemblance to a nuclear air raid shelter, were a pretty self-satisfied bunch of people – the Gateway project planning team.
They were there to "celebrate" a £128 million grant from the Department for Transport which, we were assured, was a major success and most certainly paved the way for the £550 million redevelopment of New Street to proceed.
Nothing, of course, could have been further from the truth.
The suits in the room – representing Network Rail, Advantage West Midlands, Birmingham City Council and Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry – were in possession of on-message sound bites which they proceeded to deliver, apparently in all seriousness, even though it became increasingly clear that the New Street scheme was in danger of hurtling deep into the clack.
You can't say they weren't warned. A week before, Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly made it clear the remaining £220 million for New Street would not be handed over until the council had satisfactorily answered questions about the scheme's value for money.
Her comments were repeated on the day of the announcement by the Minister of Transport, Tom Harris.
The suits were unable to respond sensibly to this, since they had been programmed to stick to pre-prepared press releases, and could only look on with sickly fixed grins as West Midlands Minister Liam Byrne reiterated Mr Harris's comments.
This will end in tears, mark my words.
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It has been open season on Advantage West Midlands since the Government announced plans to change the way regional development agencies operate.
And never ones to miss an opportunity to give an old enemy a kicking, Birmingham City Council waded in with both feet.
The council's 19-page "analysis" of AWM's draft economic strategy pulled few punches, describing the document as unambitious and lacking in inspiration. The real nature of the criticism, naturally, was that AWM failed to pay enough respect to Birmingham as a global city (whatever that means?).
Puffing themselves up to meet the challenge, Brum council officials wrote: "Birmingham has a key role to play for itself and the wider region in engaging with and influencing national decisions makers."
You wouldn't want to let the likes of Dudley or Wolverhampton or, God forbid, Sandwell, lose on those movers and shakers in London.
The missive went on: "As a global city with a local heart (copyright M. Whitby) Birmingham is the region's one internationally recognised city and has both civic and resident links with countries across the globe."
The region's one internationally recognised city? I think not.
They might have something to say about such piffle in Coventry, famous throughout the world for its splendid modern cathedral rising out of the wreckage of the Second World War bombing and for its reputation as a city of international reconciliation.
Is it any surprise that Birmingham is regarded throughout the West Midlands as power mad?
Comments (1)
For a group of top politicians and businessmen to be only capable of reading from a prepared script shows the total inadequacy and weakness of the Gateway proposal.
It is after all a second rate proposition consisting of -
42 new escalators and a goldfish bowl for passengers
To wait for trains that are queuing up to enter a station
with no extra tracks
but with half a dozen balti restaurants
and a non-descript office block on top
into which (no doubt) Network Rail and Council institutions will become the first major tenants.
All In the entire scheme will confirm Manchester as the second city and Birmingham as the second rate city.
It is in reality a scheme to take lots of public money add to it a little private money and make a bomb for the developers (proponents) of the scheme it does nothing for the rail passenger, the city, the region or the transport network.
Think small you will get small and be thought small – Gateway is just that small
Think second rate you will get second rate and you will be thought of as second rate – Gateway is just that second rate.
Think big and you will get big and be thought of as big - East Side Great Central is that big
Think first rate and you will get first rate – East Side Great Central is that superb
Go for Gateway and nobody will notice, even the people of Birmingham, people of the West midlands will notice even less and once North of Stafford or South of Coventry there will be no impact whatsoever. Londoners and the South of England will simply laugh at us and across the channel they will say as usual the British are making there usual botch and get on with drinking their lager.
Go for East Side Grand Central and not only will Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow be green with envy but Londoners will be commuting to Birmingham and across the Channel there will be admiration for a Country that has put Second Class behind it and strode forward into the twenty First Century.
Lets get the politicians and suits of their ##### and telling this government and D(a)fT that this is what the City Wants and what the region wants. It is sure to meet BCR analysis requirements.
Gateway could be scaled down and New St developed as a suburban station with a selected inter city service. Funds released could be used on Grand Central. The combined project could be phased for gradual transfer of services from New St to Grand Central
The promotion of Grand Central would be a project for the twenty-first century around which would excite and unite the populace of the region and place us above even London in the UK. It would get support from the construction industry, commerce from the region and from outside the region as a prestige project. London has the Olympics; Birmingham needs and should have Grand Central.
Let’s get on with it.
Posted by truthsleuth | August 16, 2007 12:31 AM
Posted on August 16, 2007 00:31