Birmingham City Council spends ten years of maintenance cash to remove A47 pop-up lane

Filed under: FOI

Why we made the Freedom of Information (FOI) request

It’s important that the small amounts of money we receive for active travel are spent on lasting infrastructure to encourage people to cycle.

We know that lack of infrastructure – or too many cars – is a leading cause for not cycling.

We were told that the pop-up cycle lane cost too much to maintain, so we wanted to check how much exactly it did cost.

What we asked in our request

• How much it cost to install the A47 Nechells Parkway pop-up cycle lane
• How much it cost to maintain it since installation
• How much it cost to remove

Birmingham City Council’s reference code for this request is 51646077.

What we found out

• It cost £256,000 to install
• It cost £15,133 to maintain since installation
• It cost £173,103 to remove
• It would cost the same to maintain the lane for 10 years, which could have kept it in place until a permanent scheme is built

Our reaction

We published an open letter about the lane’s removal earlier this year. The results of this FOI request causes us to double down on our disappointment for the lane’s removal. The scheme could have stayed in place for a decade for the same cost of removing it.

We are relieved to hear that the West Midlands Cycling and Walking Commissioner, Adam Tranter, is working with the Cabinet Member for Transport, Councillor Liz Clements, and her officers to identify a new scheme to reinstate safe cycle access along this route.

It is important that our pop-up lanes are converted to permanent lanes. Removing Active Travel Fund schemes could damage our ability to win future funding.

Birmingham City Council should explore how cheaper pop-up lanes, through the use of wands, might achieve a faster rollout of a meaningful cycle network across the city, while longer-term permanent plans are drawn up and funded.