Villa Park Redevelopment

[Percy McCarthy]

More likely to come out of something like this:

https://www.wmca.org.uk/news/west-midlands-secures-over-1bn-funding-to-drive-a-green-transport-revolution/

I haven’t seen or heard any news source claiming BCC would be paying for it.

[AV82EC]

Well, we are, as part of the solution.

Can you link any evidence of this? You seem very sure.

Well I'm no expert on local government funding etc.  I had assumed as we had been putting pressure on Andy Street then any upgrade to the train stations would come out of the public purse.

The first hit on Google came up with this on the WMCA website:
The Transport Budget is funded by a levy from the seven metropolitan councils. In January 2017 the West Midlands Combined Authority set a levy of £121.54m for the 2017/18 year, a 2.63% reduction from 2016/17. The levy is allocated to each district based upon published population figures. Details of the Transport Budget and Levy can be found in the Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) Transport Plan on the TfWM website and also the annual expenditure leaflet.


I'm not really after a debate as it's not something I have any expertise on.  But as a layman, ultimately transport upgrades are inevitably funded by the taxpayer aren't they?

Yep and in Birminghams case coordinated by Street and WMCA. BCC will get a say and have some influence but ultimately it’s Streets head on the block for this one.

[astonvilla82]

I am just starting to get save the planet thing and if it's means better train upgrades that involves witton station and Aston and the tram passing Villa Park I am now all for it

[Richard E]

Andy Street was the guest speaker at Tettenhall College Speech Day on Friday, which I attended, and I was hoping to collar him to ask him about this but he turned up just as us VIPs were processing into the Marquee and left straight after his speech so I never got chance. 

[DB]

That Leighton fella has an interesting proposal on Twitter, what a knob.

[eamonn]

The fella who used to post on here and was responsible for the anti-Dolly "We're not fickle, we just don't like you" banner?

[dave.woodhall]

That Leighton fella has an interesting proposal on Twitter, what a knob.

And it is?

[DB]

That Leighton fella has an interesting proposal on Twitter, what a knob.

And it is?

Knock down the ‘dump’ of the surrounding area around VP, buy all the land to allow us to do what we want, sorry, the phrase was bulldoze it.

[PeterWithesShin]

That Leighton fella, what a knob.

The rest was superfluous.

[dave.woodhall]

Sadly, there are a good few of our supporters who think spending a couple of hours in the area every other week means we should be able to dictate to people who live there.

[Pat Mustard]

I've just looked at his 'proposal', I'll be kind and say it's fanciful at best.  If I'm right, he is recommending we buy up in excess of 500 homes and businesses, close all of the surrounding roads and rebuild an entirely new stadium on a plot roughly 5 times that of the current ground.

So effectively around £10 billion required, whilst simultaneously removing the population that would help to justify the expense of upgrading public transport in the area.

It's a binary choice between that and moving to a new ground that isn't in a 'dump' apparently.

[Risso]

I don't think he'd put much thought into it to be honest, he just drew a line on MS Paint around the area and said bulldoze it. He lives to get a reaction.

[Axl Rose]

I don't think he'd put much thought into it to be honest, he just drew a line on MS Paint around the area and said bulldoze it. He lives to get a reaction.

This.

He's such a self important wanker.

Fuck him

[Percy McCarthy]

I've just looked at his 'proposal', I'll be kind and say it's fanciful at best.  If I'm right, he is recommending we buy up in excess of 500 homes and businesses, close all of the surrounding roads and rebuild an entirely new stadium on a plot roughly 5 times that of the current ground.

So effectively around £10 billion required, whilst simultaneously removing the population that would help to justify the expense of upgrading public transport in the area.

It's a binary choice between that and moving to a new ground that isn't in a 'dump' apparently.

10 billion? I’d guess around £75 million for the 500 houses. Where does the rest come from?

[eamonn]

Pat likes his expensive mustard - think of the best caviar and add a zero or two.