Brum’s war on brum-brums

Drivers may be banned from going through city

BIRMINGHAM once prided itself as being Britain’s motor city. But radical plans could now see private cars banned from driving through the centre.

The city council wants to stop private vehicles – both petrol and diesel – making ‘through trips’ in a bid to cut pollution.

Cars will be able to drive into the city from designated areas, but would have to go back out to the ring road to access other parts.

Under the proposals, all residential roads would also have a default 20mph speed limit.

The authority is also looking to support trials of electric scooters ‘designed to carry one or two people for short distances’.

It’s currently illegal to ride an electric scooter on the road or pavement in the UK but they are increasingly common in European cities.

The transport plan – which aims to make the city carbon neutral by 2030 – would see the A38 Aston Expressway motorway rerouted to an ‘upgraded ring road’ while the city’s famous tunnels would possibly be used for public transport only, including taxis.

Motorists wanting to get to the centre would find it divided into ‘cells’ and would only be able to enter them from particular parts of the ring road.

The scheme has been borrowed from Ghent in Belgium. To reduce the number of delivery vehicles, the council would introduce ‘freight centres’ where the final mile of a journey would be undertaken by electric cargo bikes.

The centre of Birmingham would also be ‘transformed’ through the creation of new public squares, parks and traffic-free boulevards to encourage walking and cycling. The masterplan comes after figures showed the average Birmingham driver lost 134 hours in congestion in 2018.

Parts of the city – due to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games – also have illegal levels of pollution.

The Labour-run authority says it wants to ‘build a future in which the car will no longer be king’. But opposition councillors warned the plan could impact business and pushing congestion to residential areas on the edge of the ring road.

Birmingham’s plans are subject to approval by the council’s cabinet on January 21 before consultation with residents begins on January 28.