City Region will cost smaller areas more per head

Our friends at the West Midlands NO! Campaign have some unearthed new information about the forthcoming 'City Region'.

A Freedom of Information response has revealed that the City Region will not be funded on a pro-rata basis, and instead costs will be carved up, essentially meaning that the 1m residents of Birmingham will be contributing the same amount of cash between them as the residents of much smaller Telford or Dudley.

This is made yet worse by the fact that officials in Birmingham have fully admitted they expect to benefit the most from the creation of the City Region. 

Read the full press release here!

It seems pretty obvious that something frequently referred to as 'the Birmingham City Region' is destined to be Birmingham-centric regardless of the official denial, but now this just seems as though other parts of the West Midlands are going to be tapped for money.

The areas that already miss out as far as quangos like Advantage West Midlands are concerned are already onto a loser with this one. It's a shame that those who should be looking out for the interests of places like Coventry, Telford and Dudley seem to stand aside and let them be treated like Birmingham's poor relations...