Council approves city centre car ban plan

A controversial plan which will effectively ban cars from driving through Birmingham city centre has been approved by the City Council.

Last week, Birmingham City Council published a draft plan setting out its vision for the future of transport in the city, outlining that people must move away from using private cars.

The draft Birmingham Transport Plan contains four “big moves” which the Council hopes will help towards the city’s commitment to becoming carbon neutral by 2030, as well as making roads safer, connecting people with new job and training opportunities, prioritising people over cars and revitalising the city centre and local centres.

The four initiatives are:

– Reallocating road space. Moving away from single occupancy private cars to support the delivery of a public transport system fit for a global city, fundamentally changing the way that people and goods move about the city.

– Transforming the city centre. This, says the Council, would be through the creation of a network of pedestrian streets and public spaces integrated with public transport services and cycling infrastructure. Access to the city centre for private cars will be limited with no through trips. This includes looking at different options for the central section of the A38 including re-routing it to an upgraded ring road.

– Prioritising active travel in local neighbourhoods. Walking and cycling will become people’s preferred mode for travelling around their locality. Cars will no longer dominate street life around homes and schools, says the Council, and a limit of 20mph will be standard on all local roads and residential neighbourhoods and local centres will be places where “people are put first”.

– Managing demand through parking measures. Parking will be used as a means to manage demand for travel by car through availability, pricing and restrictions. Where development potential exists, land currently occupied by car parking will be put to more productive use.

Councillor Waseem Zaffar, Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment, said: “As a city, we have been over-reliant on private cars for too long and with more people choosing to live and work in Birmingham, we need to find innovative new ways to keep the city moving in an efficient but sustainable way.

“The more journeys we take by walking and cycling, the more we will improve air quality and our health and the more we will reduce congestion. For longer journeys, buses, trams and trains will be the backbone of a new, go-anywhere transport system.

“Good transport is the most important ingredient in ensuring that the benefits of Birmingham’s growth are felt in every part of the city. To unlock the potential of transport, we need to fundamentally change the way people and goods move around the city.

“Birmingham has already started to redress the balance and build a future in which the car will no longer be king. The introduction of Birmingham’s Clean Air Zone will reinforce our commitment to establish a zero emissions city. On the ground, we have started to put things right through investments in projects including the city’s first fully segregated cycle ways, extensions to the Metro tram network and introduction of 20mph speed limits on residential streets.

“The Birmingham Transport Plan, once adopted, will continue to build on these strong foundations, future-proofing our transport system and ensuring that we are able to move around our city in a faster, more efficient way with cleaner air and less congestion.”

A public consultation on the plans will start on 28 January and last for eight weeks.