Our consultation response for Hockley Circus to Holyhead Road bus priority

Filed under: Consultation

This is Better Streets for Birmingham and Soho and Handsworth Neighbourhood Planning Forum’s joint response to bus priority proposals between Hockley Circus and Holyhead Road from Transport for West Midlands. If you agree with our response, you can reply to say you agree with Better Streets for Birmingham’s response.

Overall feedback

We support the need for a 24-hour bus lane on this route, as well as the introduction of parking and loading restrictions. We must use these proposals as an opportunity to introduce 20mph along Soho Road.

We need to see far more radical changes to Soho Road local centre. And as such, we see these as interim plans that help buses within the small modal funding pot available.

Modal siloes were supposed to be a thing of the past under the previous Cycling and Walking Commissioner. This is frustrating as we will not be able to encourage less overall car use without a whole-system effort. Cycle lanes reduce car usage, freeing up traffic flows for buses, and this needs to be reflected in corridor approaches. 

We are concerned that pedestrian and cycle links to the nearby tram stops have been forgotten about and would like to see this improved.

Hockley Flyover to Ivy Road

We support the removal of parking to provide a bus lane.

While we welcome pavement widening on the western part of Soho Hill, we are concerned about pavement parking and would like to see hard preventative measures here.

We would like to see an eastbound bus lane east of the junction with Rose Hill Road and Villa Road, given there is space for one.

We would like to see Soho Road made a 20mph zone as a local centre.

Ivy Road to Booth Street

We would like to see a 20mph zone extend through this section to cover the local centre.

We welcome side road filters where they have been implemented and would request that cyclist access is maintained through the filter on Stafford Road. Modal filters also need engagement with residents to help foster community ownership of the infrastructure.

An awful lot of parking has been retained throughout the plans. We would like to see less parking altogether, either through marking of bays, or removal of parking, for example between Grove Lane and Stafford Road. It is also unclear how long parking is available for and whether there will be a charging scheme.

There are still four lanes of traffic in parts of this section, which is disappointing for a high street.

This section makes use of lots of bollards, and while it is unclear whether these are new or existing, we would like to see greater use of trees to soften the high street’s landscape and prevent vehicular access.

Milestone Lane to Park Lane

We would like to see Station Road, Woodland Road, Clarence Road and Green Lane side roads turned into one-way loops with continuous footways to reduce congestion around junctions while providing a safer pedestrian experience.

We would like to see bus lanes on both sides of Birmingham Road to the extent of the city boundary.