‘Rat run’ fears spark objections to road changes
MOTORISTS will have to get used to new changes which are being made to a road near Coventry Railway Station to aid access to a larger temporary car park.
Plans to revoke the existing no left turn from Warwick Road to Westminster Road were put forward to provide greater access to a temporary car park for the station.
The car park at Westminster Road will be temporarily increased to 157 spaces, including six disabled spaces, and a designated area of 47 spaces for Eaton House.
Expanding the site is necessary as the construction of the new bus interchange and multi-storey car park will result in the loss of an existing 130 parking spaces.
Whilst not disagreeing with the plan in principle, objectors at a meeting of the Cabinet Member for City Services on Monday said the move would create a “rat run”.
Officer Rachel Goodyer said: “The concerns regarding it being used as a rat run are if people could see from Warwick Road that it was backed up, then they would nip down Westminster Road and go through that way.”
Resident James Avery, who objected, said the new access from Warwick Road would put “vulnerable road users” such as cyclists at “greater risk from the hostile road environment”.
As a result, the council agreed to amend proposals to allow a left turn from Warwick Road into Westminster Road, but prevent vehicle access past the car park.
Ms Goodyer added: “By introducing the no entry so they can’t get that far then that stops that from happening.”
Huge £82 million station expansion plans were approved by the council’s planning committee on Thursday.
Plans include a new station building to provide a second entrance facing onto Warwick Road, with the site also housing five retail units.
A bus interchange service will connect
Rachel Goodyer
to the station via a new access tunnel underneath, which is already under development and scheduled for 2020.
A second footbridge will then connect all four platforms, while a new bay platform will allow for two trains per hour between Coventry and Nuneaton.
Additionally, the project includes a 644 space multi-storey car park and road improvements, including a new road connecting Central Six to the Ring Road.
Rail operators including Network Rail and Virgin Trains are partnered in the proposals, as are stakeholders including Transport for West Midlands and Friargate Coventry.
Funding is already in place with grants from West Midlands Combined Authority, CWLEP Growth Deal, Department for Transport, and the council. The major scheme will include creating a second footbridge to connect all four platforms and extend the platforms, a second entrance onto Warwick Road with step-free access to all platforms and a multi-storey car park for 644 vehicles. A bus interchange will also be built connected to the station building via a new access tunnel under Warwick Road.
A new platform will increase services to twice an hour between Nuneaton and Coventry, and road improvements will involve building a new road connecting Central Six Retail Park to the ring road and improvements to reduce congestion on Warwick Road.
The project is funded from a number of sources – £42.6million is already secure and the final £39.4m is expected to be approved by West Midlands Combined Authority in the next few weeks.
Construction work for Phase 1 began on site in 2015 with the demolition of The Rocket Public House and subsequently the construction of the access tunnel.
Works are scheduled to continue until 2020, with order of delivery being: footbridge and canopies, multi-storey car park and station building and the bus interchange.
... if people could see from Warwick Road that it was backed up, they would nip down Westminster Road and go that way.