Midlands waiting
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.PEOPLE. in the Midlands are waiting for Transport Secretary William Rodgers to "take the decisions about Midlands road schemes with which he and his predecessors have been fumbling for years".
So thinks Midlands Road Development Group secretary • Christopher Milner.
The MRDG is a group representing road users — hauliers, manufacturers and motorists — which aim to improve Midlands roads.
The money is available, says Mr Milner. "It is not as if there was a shortage of money budgeted. Over the past three years there has been a national underspend of £314m, of which £201m was in the motorways and trunk road budget."
He suggests that money could be spent on completing the M40 from Birmingham to its present end at Waterstock, east of Oxford, at an estimated cost of £70m.
Instead, the MRDG feels that the Midlands has been "leap-frogged," while other areas have received more attention.
"One is obliged to come to the sad conclusion that we are suffering from a case of governmental senility," commented Mr Milner.