TRANSPORT AND WORKS ACT 1992

TRANSPORT AND WORKS (APPLICATIONS AND OBJECTIONS PROCEDURE) (ENGLAND AND WALES) RULES 2000

MIDLAND METRO (WEDNESBURY TO BRIERLEY HILL AND MISCELLANEOUS AMENDMENTS) ORDER

NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR AN ORDER

West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive (known as Centro), of Centro House, 16 Summer Lane, Birmingham B19 3SD, has applied to the Secretary of State for Transport under section 6 of the Transport and Works Act 1992 for the above mentioned Order under sections 1 and 5 of that Act. The proposed Order would authorise West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive to construct, operate and maintain an extension in the West Midlands of its light rail system known as Midland Metro from a junction with the existing Metro line in Wednesbury in the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell to a terminus at Brierley Hill in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. The proposed route would pass from Wednesbury along the course of the South Staffordshire Railway, through Sandwell serving Great Bridge, Horseley Heath, Tipton, Dudley Port and Burnt Tree, and leave the railway formation adjacent to Dudley Zoo. The Metro would then run on street through Dudley Town Centre along Castle Hill, Birmingham Street, King Street and Flood Street, then pass on the north-western side of the Dudley Southern By-pass, then join the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway corridor at Cinder Bank serving Blowers Green, Netherton, Woodside and Harts Hill, leave the railway corridor at Round Oak, pass adjacent to Waterfront, through Merry Hill and terminate adjacent to Cottage Street in Brierley Hill Town Centre. The draft Order includes powers for:  the construction of the works including alteration to streets;  the permanent and temporary stopping-up or diversion of certain streets and rights of way;  the attaching of brackets and other apparatus to buildings;  traffic regulation with respect to certain roads in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley set out in the Schedule below, including the prohibition or restriction of parking, waiting or the loading or unloading of vehicles, provision as to the permitted direction of movement and class of vehicles and as to prohibition of vehicular access, and the revocation of traffic regulation Orders so far as consequential on the intended proposals;  compulsory acquisition of land and rights in land including temporary use of land for the construction and maintenance of the works;  the carrying out of ancillary works, and accommodation and mitigation works (including slewing of existing railway track);  the carrying out of safeguarding works;  provision of level crossings and the closure of level crossings;  the extinguishment or suspension of private rights of way and stopping-up of certain private means of access;  miscellaneous construction activities including the discharge of water, the surveying and investigation of land and temporary interference with waterways; and  the operation and use of the system including provision in relation to charging fares, tree preservation orders, traffic signs, trespass and obstruction, and the application to it of certain provisions of the Midland Metro Acts 1989 to 1993. The proposed Order also includes modifications and amendments of the Midland Metro Act 1989 (including the Tramways Act 1870 as applied by the 1989 Act) with respect to Line 1 of the Midland Metro between Wolverhampton and Birmingham in present use, including amendments concerning the level of rails and the maintenance of highways. A copy of the application and of all plans and other documents submitted with it may be inspected, free of charge, at the following places and times from 16 April 2003 until 3 June 2003: Dudley Library, St James’s Road, Dudley DY1 1HR: 9.00 am to 7.00 pm on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays; 9.30 am to 7.00 pm on Tuesdays; 9.00 am to 5.00 pm on Wednesdays and Saturdays. (Closed 18 to 22 April and 5, 26 and 27 May); Brierley Hill Library, High Street, Brierley Hill DY5 3ET: 9.30 am to 7.00 pm on Mondays; 9.00 am to 7.00 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays; 9.00 am to 5.00 pm on Fridays and Saturdays. (Closed Wednesdays and 18 to 23 April and 5 and 26 to 28 May); Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council, Planning Department, Directorate of the Urban Environment, 3 St James’s Road, Dudley DY1 1HZ: 9.00 am to 5.00 pm on Mondays to Fridays. (Closed 18 to 22 April and 5 and 26 and 27 May); Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, Transportation Planning, Development House, Lombard Street, West Bromwich B70 8RU: 8.30 am to 5.30 pm on Mondays to Thursdays; 8.30 am to 5.00 pm on Fridays. (Closed 18 to 21 April and 5 and 26 May); West Bromwich Library, Information Services and Reference, 1st Floor, High Street, West Bromwich B70 8DZ: 9.30 am to 7.00 pm on Mondays and Fridays; 9.30 am to 6.00 pm on Tuesdays; 10.30 am to 6.00 pm on Wednesdays; 9.30 am to 1.00 pm on Thursdays; 9.00 am to 4.00 pm on Saturdays. (Closed 18 to 21 April and 5 and 26 May ); Great Bridge Library, Sheepwash Lane, Great Bridge, Tipton BY4 7JF: 9.30 am to 1.00 pm and 2.00 pm to 7.00 pm on Mondays and Fridays; 10.30 am to 1.00 pm and 2.00 pm to 6.00 pm on Wednesdays; 9.00 am to 1.00 pm on Saturdays. (Closed Tuesdays and Thursdays and 18 to 22 April and 5, 6, 26 and 27 May). Wednesbury Library & Learning Centre, Walsall Street, Wednesbury WS10 9EH: 9.30 am to 7.00 pm on Mondays and Fridays; 9.30 am to 6.00 pm on Tuesdays; 10.30 am to 6.00 pm on Wednesdays; 9.30 am to 1.00 pm on Thursdays; 9.30 am to 4.00 pm on Saturdays. (Closed 18 to 21 April and 5 and 26 May); Centro, 4th Floor Reception, Centro House, 16 Summer Lane, Birmingham B19 3SD: 8.45 am to 5.15 pm on Mondays to Thursdays; 8.45 am to 4.45 pm on Fridays. (Closed 18 to 21 April and 5 and 26 May). Copies of the application documents can also be viewed on Centro’s website : www.centro.org.uk/metrotwa. Any objections to, or other representations about, the proposals in the application should be sent to the Secretary of State for Transport, Department for Transport, Transport and Works Act Orders Division, Zone 3/11, Great Minster House, 76 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DR, on or before 3 June 2003. An objection or representation MUST: (i) be received by the Secretary of State on or before 3 June 2003; (ii) be made in writing; (iii) state the grounds of the objection or representation; (iv) indicate who is making the objection or representation; and (v) give an address to which correspondence relating to the objection or representation may be sent. The Secretary of State may make objections and other representations public and will copy them to the applicant for the Order. All requests for further information and all notices or other documents required to be served upon the applicant in connection with the application may be sent to the Metro Development Manager, West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive, Centro House, 16 Summer Lane, Birmingham B19 3SD. Winckworth Sherwood, Solicitors and Parliamentary Agents, on behalf of West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive. Schedule Roads with respect to which traffic regulation provision is proposed In the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley: Birmingham Street; Bourne Street; Castle Hill; Constitution Hill; Cottage Street (as proposed to be realigned); Flood Street (as proposed to be realigned); King Street; Level Street/The Embankment roundabout; New Mill Street (as proposed to be realigned); Porters Field (access to bus station); Station Drive; The Minories (as proposed to be realigned); Tipton Road. 16 April 2003.