Action Briefing Oct 2003 - Nov 2003
	The Newsletter of Birmingham Friends of the Earth

AWM suits to kill

I attended the Advantage West Midlands (AWM) conference in Telford. After a late start owing to the huge queues of delegates’ cars trying to get into the car park, tailing back miles onto the otherwise free flowing road network, I found myself mingling with business suits and senior local government representatives.

The plenary session focused on regional successes in job creation, new initiatives for tourism, and a new AWM office opening in Washington. Manufacturing must become “even more lean and even more mean”. But there was little mention of sustainability or social inclusion, the rural economy or farming.

During questions to the panel, someone raised the matter of the region's "dire" traffic situation - alluding to the morning's problems by way of evidence. In his response, chief executive John Edwards didn’t once mention rail, or traffic management, dwelling instead on improving road infrastructure. No-one seemed to realise that the reason “we” were all late was because “we” couldn’t get into the car park, which will only get worse if we widen all the motorways. Just for the record, both my trains were on time and there’s a cycle track and several buses running direct from the Conference Centre to the station.

The keynote speaker was Mike Moore, ex-Director General of the World Trade Organisation, about whom the only nice thing I can say is I liked his New Zealand accent. Other than that he was hideously patronising and downright wrong, and there was no chance to quiz him.

John de Kanter from 'InStaffs', Staffordshire’s Inward Investment Promoting company gave a presentation on the M6 Toll. They, alomg with Locate and the Warks Investment Partnership have got together with Midland Expressway Ltd (MEL) and AWM to promote development sites along the toll road. De Kamter hastily reassured us he didn’t mean greenbelt development, but he did have Peddimore and Bassetts Pole among his 25 sites. I pointed out that Peddimore and Bassetts Pole are no longer available for development; so how many of his other sites were genuinely available for development? "All of them”, he replied; but we might check this out.

'InStaffs' have produced a brochure promoting and listing these sites and the benefits of locating there, including “highly competitive wage rates”. Apparently, the wage rates in those areas are either at or well below the regional average, and this is a Good Thing.

But surely, I queried, the more development there is along the route the less traffic they will be able to take off the M6 without causing it to be congested. Is the M6 Toll to function as a congestion clearer or as a development corridor? Isn't there a conflict of interest here with the national needs that justified the road in the first place? "Yes", he said “there is a conflict of interest. We’ll have to try to balance this as best we can by use of the toll levels.” Later I gathered my questions were appreciated by similarly cynical members of the audience!

Finally, I attended a presentation on a new organisation, RegenWM (currently a branch of AWM). They seem to understand that there can be models of regeneration that help the people who live or work within an area, rather than simply moving them out. They might well have something to add to the sustainable development debate in the region.

Just by way of an anecdote, I also met a suit who also runs a business that makes burglar alarm panels. They used to make the panels in Scotland with a workforce of 200. Then they realised it was cheaper to make them in Thailand with 400 workers paid the equivalent of 90 US cents a day - handily the currency collapsed while they were there which made it even cheaper. But now, they have returned to Scotland where they employ four workers and a robot. I was mightily impressed, I can tell you, by these signs of economic progress. He also mentioned the manufacture of safes and how in spite of their immense weight it makes more business sense to manufacture them in the Far East and then transport them back here for sale. Such is the price of fuel.

Karen Leach