Nationalise M6 Toll, says Simon

LABOUR candidate Siôn Simon also backed nationalising the M6 Toll road to ease congestion on the region’s roads.

He is the latest figure to highlight the frsutration of having 26 miles of nearempty motorway while traffic is gridlocked on the old M6 through Birmingham and the Black Country.

Speaking at the Labour Party Conference, Mr Simon said: “I can’t see what the arguments can be for not taking it into public ownership and running it by and for the West Midlands.

“The M6 Toll isn’t working and never has. It was predicted that it would be used by 75,000 vehicles per day and this has never anything like been reached.

“Instead, the volume of traffic on the M6 increases every year.

“Whereas the M6 Toll is currently up for sale and could be bought for less than the cost of congestion suffered by the West Midlands every year.

“We need to find ways of making it work and providing relief to the parallel M6 and the feeder M5.”

Mr Simon added: “Chambers of commerce estimate that it costs the region £2 billion a year.

“I suspect that is an underestimate, let alone the cost to businesses in the North West and South West. As well as the misery for commuters and private users.”

Last year, the West Midlands Combined Authority proposed spending £15 million to buy space on the M6 Toll at peak times to ease congestion.