‘Ridiculous’ plan to shut expressway postponed
Health and safety fears prompt city council change of plan
APLAN to close part of Birmingham’s Aston Expressway and turn it into a park for the day has been shelved due to health and safety concerns.
The council had intended to shut a section of the A38 on Sunday, September 22 to mark Car Free Day, prompting widespread criticism particularly from the opposition Conservative group. The plan had been described as “ridiculous”.
But the authority is still determined to go ahead with the idea next spring.
A statement said: “Birmingham City Council, The Active Wellbeing Society and partners around the city have been working hard to make this event possible but there are a number of outstanding issues that are not going to be addressable in time for the event to take place at the end of September as planned.
“However, we are clear that this is a postponement, not a cancellation, and we will be announcing a new date soon – at a time when the weather has started to improve, bearing in mind that this will be an open air event.”
Council leader Ian Ward, speaking during Full Council on Tuesday, expressed disappointment over the decision.
He said it was intended to “make a bold statement” to complement other plans to encourage people to swap their cars for public transport, cycling and walking, in particular the Clean Air Zone which itself has been delayed until mid-2020 at the earliest.
He added: “In spite of the best
endeavours of everyone involved in this initiative, in the end it was not possible to overcome some of the health and welfare concerns around closing part of the A38 and therefore it has not been possible to proceed with that road closure for Car Free Day.
“However, we will be bringing forward some proposals for a road closure in the city centre next spring and we also seek to develop equally ambitious plans for Car Free Day next year.”
The issue then descended into a political row with Cllr Gary Sambrook
We are making a big change, we will drag the naysayers and petrolheads with us
Cllr Liz Clements
(Cons, Kingstanding) arguing the situation summed up the Labour administration saying “they had a bold idea but they had to postpone it”.
There was then laughter throughout the chamber when one councillor interjected saying “what about Brexit?” to which Cllr Sambrook replied sarcastically: “It’s alright, it’s going well thanks.”
But Liz Clements (Lab, Bournville and Cotteridge), chair of the council’s transport scrutiny committee, criticised the opposition for treating the topic like a “joke”.
She said: “We are making a big change, we will drag the naysayers and petrolheads with us.”