'Heads need to roll' amid tram delays - leader

Dudley Council leader Patrick Harley has hit out at transport bosses after learning about further delays to the opening of a Midlands Metro tram link, saying "heads need to roll".

The link from Wednesbury was scheduled to open in August 2026, already two years late, but Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council (DMBC) has now been told that deadline will be missed.

Harley, Conservative, said: "I think enough is enough. I think I've been extremely patient as leader of this authority. Businesses in my town, in my council, are suffering."

Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) was unable to give a specific date for when the line would open, but said it was expecting trams to be running before the end of the year.

Paul Heard, who runs a family-owned bath bomb shop in Dudley town centre, said the business was closing on Saturday due to the tram delays.

He said: "We had a five-year lease, and everything was expected to be finished last year, so we were hoping that would give us a year to see what impacts the new bus station and the metro would have on footfall, but unfortunately, because of the delays, we've sort of run out of time."

"When we first opened [in 2021], it was absolutely fantastic. Over the last few years, with the building of the metro and the bus station, footfall has sadly declined.

"Customers who used to come three times a week now come once a fortnight, if you're lucky, purely because the bus station is in an opposite side of the town."

The project, which is the first phase of a scheme to take the Metro into Brierley Hill via the Merry Hill Centre, has been hit by delays caused by increasing costs and unexpected extra work, which only came to light during construction.

The latest announcement came after TfWM interim director Sandeed Shingadia told Harley, according to the council leader, that there had been "adverse movement" to the timescale after delays with signal commissioning.

Harley added: "Transport for West Midlands and the Combined Authority need to get their act together and get this tram up and running, so Dudley's got the connectivity and businesses have the break that they desperately need.

"Businesses are closing, people are losing money, people are losing jobs, and that's just not right. And heads need to roll.

"The delays, the dithering, and constant incompetence is making sure that some of these businesses probably won't survive until the tram line is open, and that's not acceptable."

Mick Butler, who owns The Pet Pantry, also said business had been affected by metro delays .

He has been trading in his current shop for four years, but has been based in Dudley town centre for 27. He says he has seen the impact on trade as time has gone by.

"Nobody wants to come up as far as [where] the new station is going to be, because now they have to go half a mile away to the bus station, and they don't want to come up this far.

"I'm making no money. It's just keeping our heads just above water. I'm in my savings now, I have to keep dipping in and borrowing the business money all the time.

"Who knows, maybe I'll get up one morning and say 'that's it, I've had enough, let's move'. I moved here thinking I was going to get footfall."

A TfWM spokesperson said: "We understand why people are eager to see the new tram route opened. It will bring a major economic boost to Dudley town centre and communities along the line.

"As the longest light rail route currently being delivered in the UK, this is a hugely complex project. It has required repairing Victorian infrastructure, navigating unpredictable ground conditions, and working within a busy town centre.

"The good news is that construction is now finished and we are in an extensive testing and commissioning phase. Testing will require traffic and tram movements to be carefully monitored and managed.

"Our priority through this phase is to ensure that we can guarantee a safe and reliable service for passengers."

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