Bradley Thomas, MP for Bromsgrove and the Villages, has accused the Government of “washing its hands of any responsibility” after they rejected his calls to intervene over BREP.
Last month, in an unprecedented step, the local MP wrote to the Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander and urged the Secretary of State to instruct National Highways to “review this scheme and administer it to completion.”
Bradley has grown increasingly frustrated with Worcestershire County Council’s handling of this major project, and he’s therefore taken this step as he believes the County Council “lacks the expertise to deliver a scheme of this importance.”
Given the importance of the A38 as a local and regional arterial route, as well as the importance of this road as a piece of national infrastructure, particularly when the M5 becomes gridlocked, Bradley believes there is a strong case for the Transport Secretary to intervene.
And given the Department for Transport is providing the majority share of the funding for BREP, Bradley also asked the Transport Secretary a series of questions around how this scheme is being delivered.
However, in response to Bradley’s letter, the Minister for Roads has rejected Bradley’s call to hand delivery of BREP over to National Highways. The Minister has also failed to answer the series of questions the local MP put to the Transport Secretary.
Bradley said: “It’s clear that the Government is washing its hands of any responsibility and absolving itself of its duty to ensure BREP is completed as soon as possible and with respect to taxpayers.
“The Minister has simply regurgitated the information he’s been provided by Worcestershire County Council. That’s not accountability, this is capitulation.
“BREP is a complete shambles. Residents and businesses are at the end of their tether with the constant delays and roadworks. And the delays are hampering our local economy and damaging Bromsgrove’s reputation.
“I continue to believe the severe negative impact on Bromsgrove of how this scheme is being delivered warrants unprecedented intervention by National Highways.
“Whilst the Government and the County Council attempt to explain away the delays, I will continue to hold them both to account to ensure BREP is completed as swiftly as possible and on budget.”
A growing source of frustration has been the constant delays in the completion of the project.
Back in July, the County Council confirmed to Bradley that BREP’s overall completion date has been officially delayed for a second time.
Residents and businesses were first told BREP would be completed by December 2025 or early 2026. This was then pushed back to December 2026 and now the County Council has said the project won’t be completed until spring 2027.
In light of this further delay, Bradley wrote to Cllr Tom Wells, Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Highways and Transport, to ask what penalties the contractor will face as a result of this second delay.
However, new information has emerged in the Minister’s response to Bradley’s letter which has contradicted the County Council’s promise on when the scheme will be completed.
In his letter, Justin Madders has said “the majority of the Programme is currently expected to be completed in early 2027, with works at Oakalls Roundabout scheduled to finish in summer 2027.”
The County Council’s own website still claims that ‘the latest programme provided by our contractor indicates that some activities associated with Phase 3 will continue into Spring 2027. This reflects the overall completion of the programme rather than the completion of individual schemes.’
Bradley said: “I don’t understand why the County Council has provided the Minister with a different competition date to the one they gave me only two months ago. This is a complete farce. It shouldn’t take a letter from the Minister for this information to be made public.
“At every step the County Council has failed in its duty to effectively communicate with local residents and businesses.”
See Bradley’s website at www.bradleythomas.org.uk for further details
