Campaigners bid to halt city region plan

By Sunita Patel

A campaign to halt regional government plans that will see Telford swallowed up into a West Midlands-wide city region dominated by Birmingham was launched today.

The West Midlands “No!” campaign is calling for a referendum on the issue. It follows the proposal for a Birmingham, Coventry and the Black Country City Region to boost skills, transport and the economy.

But those opposed to the change claim people do not want it. They say it will have a negative impact on trade and industry in fringe areas not included within the new boundaries, which will be forced to compete against the city region for national and European funds.

All the local authorities involved, including Telford & Wrekin Council, were today urged to hold “binding referenda” on whether to join the city region “instead of making the decision privately behind closed doors”.

Support
One of the campaign leaders, Stuart Parr, of Telford, said: “Nobody in the West Midlands has been elected to office on a manifesto of regionalisation and therefore nobody has a mandate to make such fundamental changes to local government in the West Midlands without first gaining the consent of the electorate via a referendum.

“Democracy is not a spectators sport. We want local people to have their say. We really don’t think there is any support for a city region.
“It is going to be a detriment to the rural parts of the region.

“It will take skills and money away from the rural sections of the West Midlands in Shropshire and Staffordshire that are not included and will have to compete against the city region for funding – places like Shrewsbury and parts of the Welsh borders.

“The north-east is the only region to hold a referendum on this issue and rejected an elected assembly with a 78 per cent “no” vote.

This year, Local Government Minister Phil Woolas said the Government favoured city regions run by elected mayors.