PCC follow-up hearing into chronic M6 delays
West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David
Jamieson will hold a meeting tomorrow (DEC 20) to see how the
response to major incidents on the M6 has improved since a fatal
crash in February.
It will be a follow-up to his hearing on March 18 that looked
into why the motorway remained closed for 24 hours following the
fatal crash on February 4. As a result, people were stranded
in their cars and vans for hours, with hospital appointments,
family funerals and business meetings and deliveries missed.
During that initial hearing, 11 recommendations were made. This
new meeting - which will be webcast live from Lloyd House in
Birmingham from 10am - will check on the progress since then.
West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David
Jamieson said: "I organised the initial hearing following
public outrage at the 24-hour delays, which cost the local economy
millions and caused untold disruption.
"The crash in the early hours of February 4 was a tragic
incident in which a young man lost his life. These hearings have
never been into the circumstances of the crash but rather the
response that followed from emergency services and Highways
England. West Midlands Police has already investigated the crash
itself and an inquest has taken place.
"This latest meeting will get everyone around the table again to
see exactly what progress - however small or large - has been made
since then.
"We need to make sure we have an efficient and effective
motorway system serving the West Midlands, especially with HS2
construction looming on the horizon."
Following tomorrow's hearing, there will an update report
published before Christmas and a full one in the new year.
The 11 recommendations from the first hearing are:
- Police to review protocols for informing Highways England of
large fuel spillages.
- Police and Highways England to review the systems for allowing
senior road workers access to incident sites for assessment of
carriageway conditions before the end of the force's investigative
phase.
- Police, Highways England and local councils to agree a
programme of exercises to prepare for unplanned motorway
closures.
- Police, Highways England and local councils to review protocol
for declaring a major incident.
- Police, Highways England and local councils to consider
bringing in a grading scale for incidents and their response.
- Highways England and local councils to look at their
out-of-hours traffic management capabilities.
- Highways England to develop and introduce collaboration
agreements with councils for a shared response.
- Highways England, West Midlands Combine Authority and the
Department for Transport to review and renegotiate the criteria for
opening up the M6 Toll if there's a major incident, including
lowering the threshold for activation and devolving decision making
to the Metro Mayor in partnership with other key agencies.
- Highways England to review its operational command
arrangements.
- All agencies to examine their response to those trapped in
vehicles, especially vulnerable people.
- West Midlands Combined Authority to convene with six months for
a follow-up meeting.
All of the papers and the webcast itself can be found
here