When it comes to transport planning, West Midlands citizens are making it clear: service matters more than style.
In an innovative approach taken by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) in June 2024, a diverse group of 30 residents, reflective of the local population, came together to tackle a big question – how to find the millions of pounds in budget savings needed to create a transport system that can withstand the challenges of a changing climate.
Through their conversations and the information provided, the West Midlands ‘Greener Together Citizens’ Panel’ realised that transitioning to a more resilient transport structure involves some tough compromises. But given space and time to learn, question and discuss their views, citizens are ready to make those trade offs.
The missing ingredient: trust
When making tough decisions together trust is an important, and often missing, ingredient. Without trust, many views go unsaid. There isn’t the safety to say what needs to be said – for example, the natural challenges, worries, or different positions people might feel. Without trust, it can be hard for anyone (including leaders in positions of power) to name the difficult reality of a situation.
The fact that views are not voiced doesn’t mean they go away, but the wisdom and potential within them is lost. They tend to bubble away as resistance grows, and this can turn into opposition to policy, or complaints when enacted policies simply don’t work in practice.
The public opposition to the extension of London’s Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) is a prominent example of the challenge in gaining and maintaining support for climate policies that impact how people get around. When policies are developed without public input and support, local residents suffer from policy that doesn’t work for them, and elected representatives receive backlash.
However, this conversation about transport went quite differently.
From complexity to clarity
Providing space and time for trust to be developed was key to its success. By June 2024, the panel had met 7 times across 18 months, and had the space and time for trusting relationships to be developed both with each other, and with the combined authority. By this the eighth meeting, members of the panel were speaking freely, deliberating, and disagreeing well.
Building the foundations for trusting relationships to be established paved the way for honest, open deliberations that resulted in valuable insights for Transport for West Midlands to act upon.
In terms of funding, the ‘car motorcycle, PHV, Taxi’ pot had the most money taken from its budget, this was followed by rail and active travel, with the bus, sprint and metro budget cut the least. However the conversation was rich in highlighting the trade-offs that need to be made.
For instance, active travel was praised for its health and environmental benefits, although safety concerns were raised regarding cycle lanes and other infrastructure. Participants emphasised that public transport is crucial for reducing car dependency, particularly for older individuals and those without cars. They prioritised affordability and reliability over the creation of new routes or stations.
Panel members recognised the complexity of transport planning, noting that cultural readiness and safety fears significantly impact the adoption of active travel options. There was a clear consensus that public transport must remain accessible and reliable; otherwise, more people would revert to using cars.
Building trust through transparency, so that the difficult things can be voiced
It's counter intuitive, but one way trust can be built is by taking a first step to expressing something authentic and honest, and trusting that it can be navigated together. In this case, this was demonstrated by members and leaders being open about the scale of the effect of climate change and extreme weather conditions on the transport system, and then being honest about the real financial difficulties involved in mitigating this problem.
Through acknowledging the difficulties, the conversation shifted from a ‘simple’ choice between which pot to take money from, to one that addressed the complexity of how to support a shift in travel culture in the West Midlands whilst making the transport system resilient and fit for purpose.
For the combined authority, the deliberations with the Greener Together Citizens panel offer a window into often deeply held perspectives that are true of wider society.
For panel members, it offers the opportunity to understand the complexity of the challenges that the combined authority is facing, and a better understanding of the trade-offs that need to be made.
Hearing it from the ones doing the job, builds trust and confidence, and understanding of the scale of the issue. Also more appreciation for the difficulty of the decisions and more compromise with sometimes things not being exactly what an individual wants.
Like with all relationships, time is also a key ingredient to building trust and the safety to be able to say what is vulnerable or difficult. Ultimately involving and building trust alongside citizens over an extended period results in making better decisions that more people, whether they be residents or council officers, are willing and able to come along with.
We see this elsewhere too. In Camden, the council has taken a deep approach to resident engagement, setting shared missions together, and working in the expectation of long term relationships. The council reports this has meant they can move further and faster on reforms, as the approach has helped to galvanise positive change both within and outside the council.
A precedent for better, more responsive governance
By opening up the conversation and inviting public input, Transport for West Midlands have seen how willing people are to engage in difficult decisions, and when they do, their input benefits everyone. This approach not only highlights the power of citizen involvement in governance but also showcases the West Midlands' commitment to finding innovative solutions for our most pressing problems.
What’s clear is that when it comes to shaping our transport future, involving local citizens in the process is vital. The approach taken in the West Midlands represents more than a budgeting exercise; it's a valuable precedent for better, more responsive governance in a time of urgent and complex challenges.