Plans for car ban and streets revamp to make Birmingham city centre safer for shoppers progress

City Centre Active Travel Connections to Interchanges phase one can move forward after the business case for the scheme was given the go-ahead.

Earlier this week, members of the West Midlands Combined Authority’s (WMCA) investment board approved City Regional Sustainable Transport Settlement funding of £12.926m to go towards the project. A further £7.833 million for the scheme will come from clean air zone net surplus money.

The aim of the scheme is to improve connections between public transport exchanges such as New Street and Snow Hill stations and Colmore Row Bus Interchange.

Work will include nine new cycle stands, two bike maintenance hubs, almost 7,000 square metres of shared-use paving, new signage, benches, street lighting, and drainage.

It will also see Bennetts Hill, Temple Street and part of New Street pedestrianised between 11am and 11pm seven days a week, apart from emergency vehicles.

The areas covered within the project are New Street, Temple Street, Bennetts Hill, Lower Temple Street, Ethel Street, Chamberlain Square, Eden Place and Victoria Square steps.

Officers said this is the ‘sister project’ to the recently completed City Centre Public Realm scheme which has seen a revamp of Victoria Square, Colmore Row and Waterloo Street.

Check out the latest developments in Brum and the West Mids

Councillor Majid Mahmood, Birmingham City Council cabinet member for environment and transport, said: “The scheme improves safety and connectivity for active travel users by relocating road space away from vehicles and traffic and reassign priorities to active travel modes including walking and cycling and wheeling.

“The scheme provides improvements that create a safe, welcoming and attractive environment that in turn aims to support investment and economic growth.

“It replaces degrading surfaces in New Street that have been in place for over 30 years. The new surfaces will be long lasting and allow for greater accessibility and reduce our maintenance costs therein.

“New Street is one of the most pedestrian dense areas in Birmingham, if not the country, and therefore this work is key.”

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WMCA investment board member Chris Burden said: “I’m sure the style of brick paving was very fashionable in the 1980s and 90s but it hasn’t aged in the way it should have.

“If you’ve seen some of the work done in the first phase of this, around the council house, it really is fantastic. Having that down New Street will be a bit more timeless, that won’t go in and out of fashion.”