Police boss calls public hearing on 24-hour closure of M6

THE West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner is to stage a public hearing to try and determine why the M6 in Birmingham was closed for almost 24 hours following a fatal accident earlier this month.

The incident caused huge tailbacks and the city centre came to a virtual standstill for the whole of the working day on February 4.

Motorists and business leaders branded the delays in re-opening the motorway “unacceptable” and while the cost of the accident to the business community has not been calculated, it is thought to have been considerable, with thousands of meetings either delayed or cancelled altogether.

PCC David Jamieson has now convened a public hearing to assess the multi-agency response to the aftermath of the accident to ensure lessons are learnt and co-ordination is as strong as it can be in the future.

Mr Jamieson has invited local authorities, West Midlands Police and Highways England to the public hearing, which will be staged at Birmingham City Council House on March 18.

Mr Jamieson said: “I have made supporting the regional economy one of my top priorities in my police and crime plan. These delays and lengthy closures have a huge impact on jobs and growth. That is why I am so keen that the agencies involved learn the right lessons going forward.

“The huge tailbacks will have cost the regional economy millions of pounds.

“Whole day closures have a huge impact on the economy, therefore we need to make sure that organisations are held to account to make sure they are doing all they can to open the motorway as quickly and safely as possible.”

He said he would be publicly scrutinising the way in which all the various agencies responded to the aftermath of the accident.

“I hope this hearing will act as a stimulus for a more structured working relationship between the police, Highways England and local authorities if a similar incident occurs in the future,” he said.

“I will be using my powers as PCC to ensure that these matters are heard in public and properly scrutinised. I have previously called on the Secretary of State for Transport to take hold of this issue to make sure that we are doing all we can to ensure that co-ordination and joint working between different agencies is as strong as possible.”

Ahead of the Public Hearing the PCC is calling on people and businesses to submit evidence on how they were affected by the crash and the effect it had on them.

Evidence can be submitted here: www.westmidlands-pcc.gov.uk/m6delay

“I want to hear from people and businesses about the effect that it had on them to get a full picture of the impact of the delays ahead of the hearing in public. I would urge anyone who was stuck in the delays to let me know their experiences so we can get a full picture of what happened and the impact upon the region,” added Mr Jamieson.

The PCC is expected to make recommendations on how the motorway in future can be re-opened as quickly and as safely as possible through better co-ordination and joint working.