Tramline to open to passengers in August

The Midlands Metro tramline will open for passengers in Dudley at the end of August, councillors have been told.

At a Dudley Council committee meeting on Wednesday, council leaders faced questions on what help was available for traders affected by the delayed works.

Councillor Steve Edwards wanted to know what was being done to support struggling businesses in Dudley town centre while they waited for the line, linking the town to Wednesbury, to be finished.

Dudley Council's leader, Patrick Harley, said: "The constant delays are unacceptable, we now have a definitive date for when the Metro will be up and running, 28 August."

The line into Dudley was originally planned to open in 2024 before work began on a second phase to take the line to Merry Hill and, when funding was obtained, into Brierley Hill town centre.

Increased costs caused further delays to the project which is managed by Transport for West Midlands, part of West Midland Combined Authority (WMCA).

Construction of phase one into Dudley should be complete in spring 2026, however the line will not open to passengers until drivers have completed a training process.

In the meantime Dudley's leaders have been in talks with the WMCA and West Midlands mayor Richard Parker to negotiate help for town centre business.

Harley said: "The mayor is very proactive looking at how we can try and offer compensation to some of those businesses that have been affected.

"We can't offer compensation to them all but the [combined authority] are looking at that, to date some, about half a dozen businesses particularly around Birdcage Walk, some of them have received in excess of £100,000.

"There are schemes out there helping businesses but with added delays we need to do more."

Edwards said: "That's still eight months, businesses have closed in the last few months based on the negative impact and we could get to August with a town with even less shops."

Harley said: "It could have been planned better, members and the public have to acknowledge this is not a Dudley Council project, we did not control the pace these guys moved."

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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