Birmingham's roads to vanish for pedestrians
Courtesy: paulauthur.net
Birmingham City Council wants to reduce its confusing road system and open up areas of public realm for the pedestrian to enjoy. The plan could create greater density of housing, building 80,000 new homes that the Council predicts it needs with £9 billion yet to be sought from developers to do this. Areas between city quarters can feel like dead spaces and there are discussions underway to create attractive walk ways to regenerate the city.
At the end of this month, Birmingham City Council will submit its business case to the government for the Local Enterprise Partnership's HS2 Growth Strategy. Funds amounting to tens of millions, are needed to revitalise the area in the city centre around this new transport link. It is hoped that the public realm scheme will start this coming June.
Director of Planning and Regeneration at the Council, Waheed Nazir, thinks this could be the largest public realm strategy in the UK and will be a large improvement as travelling around the city can a challenge.