Emergency Transport Plan to make room for walking and cycling

Birmingham City Council has launched an Emergency Transport Plan to create more space for walking and cycling as the city prepares to ease out of lockdown, and to lay the ground for a cleaner, greener recovery from the pandemic.

The plan follows the government's announcement of a £2 billion package to support active travel, and the Prime Minister's statement on 10 May setting out the conditions for easing lockdown.

Four big moves

The plan speeds up some of the measures in the draft Birmingham Transport Plan, which was out for consultation earlier this year when the country went into lockdown. It is built around the same four "big moves": reallocating road space for walking, cycling and social distancing; transforming the city centre with walking and cycling routes and limited access for private cars; making walking and cycling the natural choice for short trips in local neighbourhoods; and managing demand through parking, with some car parking space turned over to people.

What will change

New proposals include reviewing key roads to identify where space can be converted for walking, cycling or public transport, and new cycle lanes, the first of which will link the city centre to City Hospital through the Jewellery Quarter.

The plan will also speed up the "traffic cells" scheme for the city centre, and introduce low traffic neighbourhoods, with at least two pilot areas to be identified by the end of the month. There will be support packages for schools and businesses to encourage sustainable travel and safe social distancing.

Work has already begun to create more space for people on Kings Heath and Erdington high streets by removing some on-street parking.

"A reset"

Councillor Waseem Zaffar, cabinet member for transport and environment, said the lockdown had shown what the city's streets could be like.

"During the lockdown period, road traffic across Birmingham has reduced by 60% over several weeks. This has created a quieter, safer environment for walking and cycling with much improved air quality," he said.

"The Emergency Birmingham Transport Plan is a reset for how we move around the city and is the start of our work to ensure we come out of the COVID-19 lockdown with the ability to travel safely, healthily and sustainably. I know our city can build a bright, healthy future - this is our chance to deliver it."

Why now

As restrictions begin to ease, public transport can only carry a fraction of its normal number of passengers if people are to stay two metres apart. That raises the risk that people returning to work will turn to their cars instead, bringing congestion and pollution back to the city's roads.

By making walking and cycling easier and safer, the council hopes to encourage people to make short journeys on foot or by bike, and to keep some of the benefits of cleaner, quieter streets that residents have noticed during the lockdown.

The emergency plan does not replace the full Birmingham Transport Plan, which is due to be published later this year. Some of the measures will be temporary, but the council says others could become permanent if they prove popular.