Dream scheme Longbridge?

Confused by the big roadworks scheme on Bristol Road South A38 at Longbridge ? Birmingham City Council planning application explains all. Documents in 2008/02787/PA explain how the vision of a new Longbridge, a process in which public involvement was invited, is translated into bulldozers on the ground.

One drawing in the pack, ‘Proposed Highway Works Phasing’, helpfully explains the land ownership serving the Longbridge site. Serving the site, or cutting through it, is a railway formation that from Longbridge Station to Bristol Road South is owned by English, Welsh, and Scottish Railway (owner of a fleet of freight trains). The railway, that would in some cases be seen as an asset, is part of the Longbridge to Frankley railway. The potential railway sits alongside the construction training college as assets earmarked for removal.

The gain from the pain is planned to be a better road alignment; a smooth curve with traffic signals at the junction rather than the current roundabout that has sent many a visiting motorist towards Lickey Hills rather than the M5. The planned new junction sets up the start of the Longbridge to M42 route (a route that has failed to gain approval) and firmly places the Longbridge Vision as one where continuing and expanding road transport is a given.

The scheme, in its enthusiasm, bypasses itself by having a new two-ended road to and from Bristol Road South; one end lies opposite the much widened Longbridge Lane.

Developer of the site, St Modwen, are going through a stormy time with Birmingham City Council. In May, City Planning Committee chairman, Councillor Peter Douglas Osborn, accused St Modwen of behaving in a cavalier fashion when trying to force through the ‘Longbridge Tombway’, an underground access to the proposed shopping centre. The Tombway was described by city planners as off-putting to pedestrians. Stung by criticism St Modwen grudgingly dropped the idea (Birmingham Post May 20^th).

Ripping on with the project in a changed economic environment might raise the hackles of the Taxpayers Alliance. From the money spent, there might be a good outcome in the fantasy tarmac league, but a physical asset that is worthless or even a liability. The Longbridge site, given breathing space, might be devalued by having a road across it whereas it might otherwise be a new manufacturing site or a new home for Pinewood Studios.

To top and tail the sorry story, the developer had been expected to pay some of the infrastructure costs (a £35m contribution) but opted out (Property Week, 31 March 2009). The public foots the bill.

This then is the reality of Birmingham: an authority laying off staff and struggling for money, relentlessly pushing ahead with a project that may well be obsolete. The elected and employed people making up Birmingham City Council have a great deal of talent and that is needed now – Longbridge needs a rethink.

John Hall

Community groups get together for 20's plenty meeting

Saturday 30th January Birmingham Friends of the Earth are organising a meeting for representatives of community groups to get together and talk about making their roads safer.

After spending last year campaigning on 20s plenty, largely working on getting letters signed by individuals asking the council to implement default speed limits and sign the council petition, this year we are intent on building a coalition of groups to show a wider base of support. The scheme has been incredibly successful in other places where it has been implemented, such as Portsmouth and Oxford, so it is time for the residents of Birmingham to get a safer environment, too.

There has already been great interest in attending from many neighbourhood forums and we expect it to be a really good event, with a short presentation at the beginning outlining a few aims and then a chance for everyone to interact, share ideas and experiences and make some plans for future collaborations and ways of sharing information.

It has already been publicised on other local blogs, such as this one from Birchfield, so please pass the message on yourself to anyone who may be interested in attending.

People don't need to have any experience of campaigning, just a desire to work together with people in their neighbourhood to try to improve things and build some more community feeling.

It will take place at 10.30am on January 30th at the Journey Metropolitan Community Church in Digbeth (opposite the Birmingham Friends of the Earth building on Shaw's passage).

Contact anne@birminghamfoe.org.uk if you want to come or want any more details about the meeting.

20's Plenty for Birmingham - Help our Campaign

Birmingham FoE has been campaigning for a default speed limit of 20mph on all residential areas across Birmingham and recently I have been helping to organise the campaign locally.

The recent successes in other UK cities, such as Portsmouth and Oxford, have been very encouraging and research has showed that the public is definitely in favour of a lower speed limit.

The example of Birmingham as the second biggest city in the UK would send a positive message all over the country and really help in creating a greener and cleaner city. But more importantly it would help make Birmingham a safer city and encourage its inhabitants to walk or cycle more on roads where they do not feel secure at the moment. The change in attitude fostered by drivers associating residential areas with safer speeds would reduce road casualties and improve the quality of life.

To raise awareness in the heart of communities and get people involved to spread the word around where they live, we are looking for Community Champions following the successful example of Bristol's campaign.

If you are interested in becoming a community champion for your neighbourhood or knows somebody who might be, please contact us at campaigns@birminghamfoe.org.uk. There is a lot of work to do to persuade the people in charge of roads at Birmingham City Council that this is the way to go, but we really feel this is an important campaign and we need your help.

It's time to get together and make Birmingham a safer place to live!

Video support for our 20's plenty campaign

The campaign we are running for 20 mph speed limits to be introduced on all residential roads has been gaining support. We now have a residents' group interested in helping us in Billesley and media interest is also building.
Several media students and bloggers have made films about it and here are links to a couple of them:

http://www.birminghamrecycled.co.uk/energy/friends-of-the-earth-lead-birmingham-20mph-residential-movement

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwrDtAj8gxk

We still need people to come and help us with the campaign, so any support people can give with getting the message out there and showing Len Gregory and the other councillors that this is the way forward would be much appreciated.

Simple Change - Huge Difference

The transport action group at Birmingham Friends of the Earth are currently putting their efforts into trying to get a default 20mph speed limit introduced on unclassified roads (not A or B roads) throughout Birmingham. This would be a very cost effective way of changing the lives of a huge number of people. No expensive calming measures or cameras are called for, just changing the signs from 30 to 20. We are working together with the following organisations so far:

• Living Streets
• Campaign for Better Transport
• Roadpeace
  

We are also looking to build a coalition with many more, so if you would like to get involved, let us know. There is more information on the Birmingham FoE website or you can write to
Birmingham@20splentyforus.org.uk .

Getting safer roads would mean more people feeling confident to cycle and use local amenities within walking distance. It would also cut carbon emissions as drivers would not be accelerating so much between the frequent stops that are made in urban journeys. Several towns across the UK have already introduced these limits with very impressive results, but if we could get Birmingham, the UK's second city to do it, that would be a great achievement.

There is opposition to it from motoring organisations, of course, but they do not have any strong arguments that I have seen. A debate has been taking place in the letters pages of the Birmingham Post, which you can read below by following the links:

• More can be done to bring down road casualties
  
• Reducing Speed limit not the answer to fewer casualties
  
• Cutting speed limits to 20mph does save lives
• 20 mph limit is needed for road users safety
  

We still continue to campaign on better public transport, too, but this seems a vitally important first step to bringing about the (must use buzzword) modal shift in transport that's required to make Birmingham greener.