CONCERNS have been raised over the spiralling cost of the West Midlands' metro projects, which are currently forecast to be £93 million over budget.

The Brierley Hill extension’s budget is £310 million, with a forecast of £343 million while the proposed line from Birmingham to Solihull has a total budget of £675 million but is currently forecast to reach £735 million.

The issue was raised at a recent Combined Authority Investment Board meeting by Director of Finance Sean Pearce, who said that work was still ongoing to bring the projections into budget.

However Walsall Council leader and housing portfolio holder Mike Bird criticised the apparent lack of a spending ceiling for the projects.

“A few weeks ago we were talking about the compensation for the metro. It was £3 million,” said cllr Bird.

“And the officer said ‘oh it’s alright, we’ve planned for it in the budget'.

“And I was like ‘what? Does that mean you were £3 million over budget in the first place?’

“The metro seems to be a word that means ‘we can spend anything’, and I’m sorry but that’s not right. The metro doesn’t seem to have a ceiling. And I think we need to look at that.

“The difficulty is that, where we are, we give somebody a wish list, and all of a sudden we either; a can’t afford it, or; b we don’t know the cost of it.

“I think we should have costed this fully before we made any announcements, and we should make it clear that it’s subject to adequate funding and staying on target.”

The metro spending point was also picked up by Vice Chairman of the Coventry and Warwickshire LEP Nick Abell, who highlighted it as a major concern.