Bradley Thomas will press a Department for Transport minister over Worcestershire County Council’s handling of the delayed roadworks

Bromsgrove and the Villages MP Bradley Thomas has secured a Westminster Hall debate on the A38 Bromsgrove Route Enhancement Programme (BREP), as he steps up his campaign to hold Worcestershire County Council to account for its “failures” in delivering the project.

The debate will take place on Tuesday 13 October at 4pm, and a minister from the Department for Transport will be required to attend and respond to the questions he raises.

Mr Thomas has pursued the issue since he was first elected. In August, he took the unprecedented step of writing to Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, urging her to instruct National Highways to “review this scheme and administer it to completion.” He argued that the County Council “lacks the expertise to deliver a scheme of this importance.”

In its response, the Minister for Roads did not take up his call to hand delivery of BREP to National Highways, and did not answer the series of questions he had put to the Transport Secretary. Mr Thomas has previously accused the Government of “washing its hands of any responsibility” after it rejected his calls to intervene.

He maintains there is a strong case for the Transport Secretary to step in, pointing to the A38’s importance as a local and regional arterial route and as a piece of national infrastructure, particularly when the M5 becomes gridlocked. With the Department for Transport providing the majority of the funding for BREP, he is pushing the Government to take a greater role in holding the County Council to account.

Bradley said: “BREP is one of the biggest issues impacting Bromsgrove right now, and as the local MP it’s my job to voice the anger residents and businesses are feeling.

“The County Council’s failures in delivering BREP on time has hampered our local economy and damaged our town’s reputation. The Government must therefore play a greater role in holding the County Council to account instead of washing their hands of any responsibility.

“Residents and businesses are at the end of their tether with the constant delays and roadworks, which is why I’m continuing my efforts to hold the County Council’s feet to the fire and to get answers to the questions that we’re all asking.

“Bromsgrove’s message could not be clearer: BREP must be completed as swiftly as possible and on budget.”

The debate will be shown live on Parliamentlive.tv, and Mr Thomas will post his full speech on his social media channels afterwards.