THE West Midlands needs to “play it smarter” on transport solutions, a leading business figure in the region has warned.
Former Birmingham International Airport chief executive Brian Summers said that, given the current economic austerity, the region needed to get more out of the existing system rather than expect major new investment projects.
His comments came as he was named Business Voice WM’s business representative on the Transport Panel that advises think tank the Joint Strategy and Investment Board.
Mr Summers said it was disappointing that the new Government had immediately suspended the likes of the New Street to Snow Hill Metro extension in Birmingham and the expansion of hard shoulder use on motorways.
It remained to be seen to what extent the new Regional Growth Fund announced in the Budget would be open to transport investment, but the case for schemes felt to be a priority should continue to be made, he said
“The Metro extension was relatively small in the overall scale of the needs of the region and in many people’s eyes was not in the highest priority category but it is an important link and would provide a new focus on the city centre,” said Mr Summers.
“There is a lot of uncertainty at this point in time about the way forward, and this may be an opportunity to re-think certain things. We need to identify our real priorities while playing it smarter in terms of our approach.”
He said the need was to address the issues in a way that did not require major capital investment – concentrating instead on smaller things like managing traffic flows, encouraging alternative forms of transport, and how to achieve a better integrated system.
“We need to get yet more out of the system even though it is clearly strained,” he added.
Mr Summers said he was pleased that the New Street Station redevelopment had been safeguarded. And, despite the aviation sector finding the going particularly tough, he remained hopeful that the Birmingham International Airport board and shareholders could find a way to pursue the proposed runway extension.
However, he cautioned that the West Midlands had at times not helped itself.
“When we have had opportunities in the last few years we have not always made our case well enough and sometimes we have been too slow to capitalise, not handling things in the way we should have done,” he said.
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