WHILE the theory behind letting the city pay for New Street revamp, say MPs is all well and good, perhaps there's a much simpler solution.
Years of evidence have shown us that if we waited for the leaders of the country to ride their white steed to Birmingham's rescue we'd still be waiting for the arrival of the wheel. So MPs are quite correct to suggest that local taxation and more regionalised funding could be the way to push through the revamp.
But could the new road pricing proposals be a better option than localised business taxation or borrowing against future tax rises?
Although Birmingham has currently been sidelined as a site for the new congestion charging scheme, there's no doubting that should the Government opt for a trial on a larger city it is likely that we would be in the line of fire.
If the powers-that-be do decide to introduce such an option (and on current form it looks near-inevitable) they're going to need to do an awful lot of work to keep the voters happy.
And that's where a New Street sweetener could be an ideal weapon. If road pricing were to directly fund a station revamp, it would not only show that the Government were prepared to allow the city to push on with the regeneration of our crumbling rail hub, but it would also show green voters that they are genuinely serious about reducing the number of cars on our roads by giving more people an incentive to get on public transport.