Background to the Blight-O-Meter

The Blight of Blight

3rd February, 2006

Some people in the Anti tram groups think that stopping the tram or opposing the route now will end the property blight that is developing. Unfortunately it is not as simple as that, as past experience on many types of urban transport schemes (road, rail based and bus schemes) regrettably show. Stopping the scheme at its current planning stage is unlikely to end the blight. The route for the tramline has been voted into the local transport plan at council votes, and is the selected route for submission of a Transport Works Act Order (TWAO). This won't change. Opposing the route is opposing the whole tram, which is a campaign for more blight. (And is why the anti-tram groups are still anti-tram although they pretend otherwise). Once a TWAO is submitted for the tram scheme only minor changes to the selected route can be made at the subsequent inquiry.

The compulsory purchase and compensation procedures cannot start until the TWOA is submitted. However the route is already known now and those who will be directly affected have been identified. If the scheme does not get funding, the route remains known and those blighted are more than likely to remain so. This leaves them in the terrible position of not being able to move or sell due to blight but with no hope of being compulsory purchased, i.e. totally stuck.

In both Manchester and Birmingham properties were blighted by transport proposals which were scrapped. In Birmingham the plans from over 10 years ago were withdrawn yet this did not stop the blight which has continued to this day and investment in these areas has been constantly curtailed due to the perception of uncertainty. The tram proposals in Nottingham have moved so far now that outright opposition has the potential of being the worse option for all in our area.