‘Secret’ plan to drive cars out of the city centre
Tories condemn transport strategy to ‘close tunnels’ and revolutionise road use
BIRMINGHAM city centre could be split into different ‘cells’ which car drivers could only access from the ring road – with the Queensway tunnels used solely by buses and cyclists.
The idea was revealed after claims of a ‘secret’ plan to close the tunnels to cars and banish them from the city centre were revealed by opposition councillors this week.
Council transport chiefs said the ideas were part of the ‘medium to longer term’ vision for Birmingham to tackle air pollution – and would not happen in the next two years.
It was also claimed the proposals would require around £1 billion worth of investment in public transport to encourage people to ditch their cars.
It comes after details emerged from the council’s new Birmingham Transport Plan, ahead of the document’s publication next month.
Mel Jones, the council’s head of transport planning and network strategy, told the authority’s transport and sustainability scrutiny committee that transforming the city centre was one of the plan’s four ‘big moves’.
She said: “This big move is about creating a much-less car dominated city centre within the ring road.
“Through trips will be removed or restricted initially by dividing the city centre into a series of cells.
“Each cell can only be accessed from the ring road so to move from one cell to another in a car you have to go back out on to the ring road.
“Movement between the cells would be unrestricted for public transport, pedestrians and cyclists and then the cells would be overlaid with a network of pedestrian streets and public spaces.
“Also within this move is the ultimate goal of downgrading or re-purposing the A38 through the city centre.”
Another ‘big move’
is the ‘reallocation of road space’ to give more priority to buses, with one intention being to re-establish cross city routes.
In response to whether the A38 tunnels, in particular the Queensway, would be closed, Phil Edwards, assistant director for transport and connectivity, said: “There is significant infrastructure there which only a few years ago a fortune was spent refurbishing.
“If there was an alternative use for cross city buses or cycling or a metro system through there, then clearly we should maximise that piece of infrastructure. I don’t think it’ll be a case of we just brick it up and get rid of it.”
He added: “The scheme is not something that is a year or two around the corner, this would be something that clearly is for the medium to longer term.
“What you do need is significant modal shift and probably in the region of £1 billion worth of public transport investment on top of all of the things we are doing anyway to be able to operate the network where people can still move around.”
The ideas have already prompted strong criticism, including from Cllr Rob Alden (leader of the Conservative opposition group), who accused the Labour-run council of conducting an ‘ongoing war on motorists’.
Earlier in the week the city’s Conservative group accused the Labour leadership of keeping the plans secret.
Cllr Alden claimed: “It has emerged that there are plans within Transport Plan to prevent cars from entering the city centre, close the tunnels and potentially introduce a congestion charge on top of the taxes already announced.”
He said the council clearly indicated in its plan that it wanted to see the city centre “free from traffic” with no through traffic.
He said: “The ongoing war on motorists by this Labour administration is continuing to punish hardworking residents and businesses in Birmingham, with plans designed to make it more difficult and more
The ongoing war on motorists by this Labour administration is continuing to punish hardworking residents and businesses
Tory group leader
Robert Alden