Traffic & Parking News & Updates
Relaunch of the Traffic and Parking Sub-Committee
[12.10.21] CRS is re-launching its Traffic and Parking Sub-Committee following the periods of social change of the last eighteen months. The Clean Air Zone is now in operation, Birmingham City Council is considering further restrictions to traffic flow through the city and the longer term changes to work and leisure patterns following periods of lockdown are as yet unknown.
The sub-committee, now under the leadership of Mushtaque Ishaque and Nick Brown wishes to focus on a few prominent issues and develop relationships with key individuals in order to best effect change.
The main issues confronting us across the entire estate and include:-
[1] Parking – anti-social and dangerous
[2] Weight of traffic – at a number of sites
[3] Accident hotspots – e.g. Augustus Road/Chad Road; Norfolk Road/Westfield Road
[4] Speeding traffic – anecdotally reported to possibly be worsened by the 20 mph limit (that is not enforced!)
[5] Condition of the roads – e.g. Augustus Road; Arthur Road
[6] E-scooters – ridden dangerously and/or illegally
In order to start this process the sub-committee wishes to hear from members about what they perceive to be their most important issues. These will be prioritised and will set the working agenda for the group over the coming period of time.
At our AGM on 24th November, 2021, we will have questionnaires that will ask members to give us their three priorities from the list opposite, that will guide our actions. A little before the AGM, we will launch a response form on this page which will have the same function.
Mushtaque Ishaque & Nick Brown
[19.08.21] Those of you living in the vicinity of the University and Hospital may have received a survey from Birmingham City Council regarding proposed parking arrangements. It is an important survey and we are reminding those of you in the affected areas that the closing date to return the survey is August 26th 2021. The survey is here. To view the individual schemes, please use the following links:
Bournbrook & Selly Park 1b | Edgbaston 2b 2c | Harborne 3a 3b 3c 3d | Cotteridge & Bournville 5
[03.12.20] Birmingham City Council are consulting on the use of electric scooters – e-scooters. The links are: the BCC e-scooter page | the regulation | the consultation. Members are encouraged to express their views on this subject! The link for the VOI FAQ page is here. This is the company which is renting out the e-scooters.
[06.11.20] Birmingham Chamber of Commerce have published a ‘Clean Air Zone (CAZ) Toolkit for Businesses’ but it has useful information for all. Go here.
[04.11.20] Birmingham Chamber of Commerce are hosting a breakfast meeting at 09:00 on Friday 6th November 2020 to discuss the impact of the CAZ on businesses. Go here to register.
[07.07.20] Birmingham City Council has been allocated £1 million for walking & cycling from the first tranche of the Department of Transport’s (DfT) Emergency Active Travel Fund, with match-funding bringing the total to £1.6 million. Go here.
[23.03.20] Birmingham City Council have launched a consultation on safety improvements for Nursery Road & Yately Road in Harborne. Please go here for full details. This site includes a link to an online survey to get your views.
[06.03.20] A dedicated website for the Clean Air Zone has just been launched. Please go here.
In particular, it provides details for how to apply for exemptions for the charge.
[04.03020] If you are inconvenienced by pavement parking which blocks the path for buggies and wheelchairs, you may download the West Midlands Police reporting form here.
You will need to take images of the front and the rear of the offending car to accompany the form.
We hope to post a worked example here shortly.
[18.02.20] Please go here for a document with all the questions asked at the T&P Forum on the 6th February 2020. For each entry, Cllr Deirdre Alden has provided the most up-to-date answer and made queries of her own for that purpose. Please send further questions to traffic@calthorperesidents.org or to the relevant emails specified in the document.
[11.02.20] Following the 220, with answers successful Traffic & Parking Forum on 6th February, we have posted a call for people to join CAZ & A38 Cycle Lane Action Groups on the Past Events page.
[09.02.20] The Government has a launched a Clean Air Zone Vehicle Checker website to enable drivers to check if their vehicle complies with CAZ rules. This is the only source of information that should be used.
[28.01.20] The Birmingham City Council Transport Plan Consultation is now live. Please go here.
[22.01.20] The Edgbaston Ward Meeting on Wednesday 12th February 2020 will focus on the Clean Air Zone (CAZ). Officers from the CAZ Team will be attending to give an update and answer your questions on the Plan due to start in the Summer. The meeting will be held at 19:00 at the Board Room, Edgbaston Community Centre, 40 Woodview Drive, B15 2HU. You may download a poster here.
[21.01.20] You maybe interested in the Birmingham City Council’s report on the Clean Air Zone (CAZ) consultation, published in December 2018. The link is here.
[21.01.20] CRS recommends that you participate in the Birmingham City Council Parking Supplementary Planning consultation. The document links are on this page here and the consultation link is here.
[13.01.20] Birmingham City Council is going forth in force with environmental plans, aiming to curb the negative impact of traffic on health and economics in the city. It is introducing a new draft for traffic management and green population mobility: in short, leave the car at home and walk/cycle/take the bus/metro/tram! Consultation for these plans will open on 28 January 2020 and will close on 27 March 2020. Details may be found here, where you may download the draft plan and a presentation on the proposals.
This is one of the items that will be discussed at our Traffic & Parking Forum on Thursday 6th February 2020 at Tally Ho! Conference Centre. Please see our Events page for details.
[04.11.19] Traffic & Parking committee members (TPCMs) have investigated and opposed new traffic-redirection proposals for Harborne Road and nearby roads in early summer. Now, having received traffic data (through Freedom of Information Act; thanks to SECA for obtaining said-data) that the project was using to justify the proposed road modifications, TPCMs noticed that the data are inconclusive. This is probably why councillors of different parties interpreted the information in opposite ways to justify or reject the plans. However, the Cabinet Member for Transport has now decided to go ahead with the work, although there is no clear cut justification for it in the TPCMs’ opinion. Will the Cabinet Member have his way? Stay tuned!
[02.10.19] On the 24th of September, BCU and Birmingham Botanical Gardens (BBG) met with CRS representatives to discuss the final stages of the plan to make access to the BCU campus and to the Gardens easier by public transport and on foot.
[02.10.19] The Clean Air Zone (CAZ) plan from Birmingham City Council (BCC) was postponed from January 2020 to July 2020 and it appears that it might be delayed further. More on that soon.
[04.11.19] We have been busy producing an exhaustive list of current traffic regulation orders in the Chad Valley area. We will be using this data to make sensible changes in order to ease traffic flow and prevent lengthy parking by non-residents.
[04.11.19] Birmingham City Council is going to roll out a new masterplan for transportation, parking and healthy living, starting with the implementation of the Clean Air Zone in July 2020, then the extension of its tram and metro network, cycling network and SPRINT bus service that will rapidly connect the wider conurbation to the city centre and the train network. All on-board?
[02.10.19] Signage will soon be erected to direct people through paths from Broadway Plaza via BCU campus up to the BBG. It is anticipated that this initiative will see a reduction in the parking and traffic issues currently experienced by Westbourne Road because of too many of BCU’s students and BBG users coming by car (especially to large events at BBG).
[02.10.19] A Traffic and Parking Forum event will take place on the 6th of February, 2020 at the Tally Ho! centre (free of charge!). Go to our Events page for details.
Traffic and Parking – Projects and Actions
Updated March 2018
CRS held a large public meeting in November 2015 on the subject of Traffic and Parking on the Calthorpe Estate. Following this, eight projects were set up to address key issues raised. Smaller forums were held during 2016 to clarify needs and support the project teams. Of those eight projects, five are ongoing and three are now complete.
Ongoing Projects
University of Birmingham
The University is undertaking a massive development programme that continues to bring more students and staff to the campus. Ensuring that the impact on residents is considered is a major concern for CRS and Traffic & Parking is represented in the regular meetings with the Director of Estates at the University.
Birmingham City University / The Village
The major developments at the BCU site on Westbourne Road have inevitably caused some problems, but the contractors do seem to have tried very hard to comply with the agreements. The expansion of BCU will almost double the number of students and parking provision on site is minimal. BCU has made additional parking arrangements for staff and students at Broadway Plaza, which is a short walk away. However, students are still parking in local developments and streets and this causes problems for residents. The BCU Vice-Chancellor is committed to being a ‘good neighbour’ and has offered to work with the CRS team to improve signage, access and parking disciplines
Private Roads
Berrow Drive/Hawthorne Road has been a most pressing issue with a rush hour rat-run through these narrow private roads and congestion caused by commuter parking. Some creative thinking by the local residents group and Mainstay adding traffic control measures to the planned resurfacing of the road will hopefully transform things. More widely, the team is looking at various measures to address parking problems, including revised road layouts, yellow lines and residents parking schemes.
Priory School Area
The area around the school entrance is a traffic and parking blackspot. Residents have been campaigning for many years about the risks and problems. Strong campaigning was supported by councillors and police but yielded only minor improvements. Mitigation actions coming from the impact of the A38 Cycleway may be an opportunity for improving this situation.
Footpaths and Cycleways
Sadly the recent death of Roy Watson robs us of an indefatigable worker for our environment. His campaigns for improved walking and cycling routes have delivered so many major improvements. His vision for a better environment was clear and CRS is committed to continuing his efforts.
Successfully Completed Projects
Carpenter Road/Templefields
Irresponsible parking by commuters in this area created a nightmare for residents. Yellow lines are now in place following a persistent campaign and the situation is vastly improved.
Bristol/Eastern Road
Changes introduced in 2015 seem to have worked well and no new issues have been raised.
Woodbourne/Lara
This project was initiated due to concerns about the proposal to build an annex for Harborne Primary School in the grounds of the Lordswood Schools with its entrance close to the junction of Woodbourne Road and Meadow Road. These roads are already a rush hour ‘rat-run’. The addition of pupil drop-off and pick-up would have created chaos. Our interest led to close scrutiny of the whole scheme and the project was withdrawn in favour of an alternative solution.
Engagement with Others
As stakeholders, we engage with the Calthorpe Estates management. Their plans for non-residential, as well as residential development affect us and for they have a huge influence on what is allowed.
Events held at the Birmingham Botanic Gardens do have a major impact in nearby streets. From discussions we expect that future events will include better management of visitor traffic and parking. Longer term, proposals for re-development of the Gardens could affect the amount of traffic coming into the area and we are trying to ensure this is not forgotten.
Problems of traffic and parking on the Calthorpe Estate are part of a wider picture affecting Birmingham and the West Midlands. We must be considerate of the needs of others and ensure that plans consider the impact on residents.
We have engaged with officers of Birmingham City Council who are developing travel strategies and the Transport Master Plan for the city and with the Selly Oak & Life Sciences Green Travel District Association. Our intention is to ensure that fair consideration is given to current problem areas and the impact of developments on residents and our part of the city. Pollution and congestion are damaging lives and ruining productivity.
Plans to increase cycling in the city are welcome, but consequential downsides must be considered. Overall, the proposed A38 Cycleway is a great idea, however, we have opposed the detailed changes at the junction with Priory Road and the opening up of a residential road in the Edgbaston Conservation Area (Wellington Road) as a new commuter ‘rat-run’. We think these changes will bring chaos and added dangers for pedestrians around Pebble Mill and the junctions of Priory Road with Pershore Road and Bristol Road, and around Priory School.