Birmingham City Council has released a Emergency Transport Plan where it calls for a low carbon, clean air recovery to the pandemic.
The Emergency Birmingham Transport Plan, sets out plans for a wide range of emergency measures to support walking, cycling and public transport throughout the city, in light of the impact of COVID-19.
The plan prioritises and accelerates some of the measures that were outlined in its draft Transport Plan consulted on earlier this year. Proposals are organised around the same four ‘big moves’, which are:
- Reallocating road space to support the creation of safe space for walking, cycling and social distancing while maintaining public transport provision.
- Transforming the city centre through the creation of walking and cycling routes alongside public transport services and limited access for private cars.
- Prioritising active travel in local neighbourhoods so that walking and cycling is the way most people get around their local area most of the time and these become places where people are put first, creating stronger communities.
- Managing demand through parking measures where land and space currently occupied by car parking is repurposed for walking, cycling and social distancing.
One of the major plans in the plan is to reallocate road space, with the council saying it will have ‘limited access for private cars’. As a result, car parking spaces will be removed and ‘repurposed’ for walking, cycling and social distancing, it says.
Introducing the plan, Cllr Waseem Zaffar said: “We must ensure our city is well-prepared to provide all our communities with the opportunity to deliver a green, sustainable recovery. Transport and connectivity is critical to that and our Emergency Birmingham Transport Plan is the first step to this response.”
To read the plan in full, please go to:
file:///C:/Users/corri/AppData/Local/Packages/Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe/TempState/Downloads/Emergency_BTP_FINAL_v2.pdf
