Friends Of The Earth

Alliance
Against the BNRR

Birmingham Friends of the Earth
West Midlands Transport Campaign
NO BNRR
Welcome to our Birmingham Northern Relief Road (M6 Toll) webpages

We hope you find this site useful and informative. We have put together over 10 years of campaigning material here on one site. We have also developed links to other campaigns as well as organisations involved in the BNRR.

We are trying to keep the web site up to date with the latest information and coverage of the campaign. This link to the Birmingham Post website allows you to search that site for up-to-the-minute coverage of the ongoing campaign.

The campaign will continue to highlight the folly of this scheme and to ensure that no similar schemes ever se the light of day in the UK.

A brief summary of the campaign
The proposed by pass of the West Midlands conurbation was more or less on the cards since the day the Midlands Lins motorways opened in the early seventies. The then department of transport was in its heyday and as our railways and public transport systems fell into decay more and more of our urban landscape and countryside fell victim to the bulldozer.

As the M6 filled up and the M5/M6 Ray Hall intersection became notorious across the country plans for the BNRR and a Western Orbital Motorway were hatched. The latter always playing a second string to the BNRR. The plans for the BNRR were unveiled in the mid eighties and the first public inquiry was held into a publically funded road. The Tories however were under great pressure as their great car economy stalled and roads became more and more expensive.

The solution was to try out an experiment into toll boothed motorways. So before the first inquiry's report was published the government announced a change of plan. The BNRR was to be the UK's first toll motorway. A competition for a concessionaire was fought with Midland Expressway Limited (MEL) emerging as the winner. At that time they were part of the now defunct Trafalgar House group. MEL today are a partnership between the Macquarie Bank of Australia and Autostrada an Italian Toll road operator.

A public inquiry was held between June 1994 and October 1995 thus becoming the longest ever public inquiry into a road ever in the UK. The Labour Party in opposition opposed the road with many anti BNRR candidates getting into parliament. This all turned sour when on July 28th 1997 after less that three months in power they performed their infamous first U turn and gave the road the go ahead.

Since then we have seen direct action along the route and local people taking the government to the High Court and winning!!! This has not stopped the powers that be from ploughing on ahead. MEL after some major hiccups have secured the finance, from Bank of America and Abbey National, and engaged a contractor CAMBBA, a consortium of Carillion, Alfred McAlpine, Balfour Beatty and Amec to build the road.

For more information please email chrisc@foe.co.uk or phone 0121 643 9117.

BNRR Route Map

Contents

Useful Links

Other Campaigns

Birmingham Friends of the Earth
54 - 57 Allison Street
Digbeth
Birmingham
B5 5TH		 Campaign Contact: Chris Crean
Telephone: (0121) 643 9117
Fax: (0121) 643 3122
Email: ChrisC@foe.co.uk
Web Page Editor: James Botham
West Midlands Friends of the Earth ©2004