Second multi-year closure of Kent Street cycle track

Filed under: General

Councillor Majid Mahmood,
Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, Birmingham City Council

Councillor Sharon Thompson,
Deputy Leader, Birmingham City Council

Councillor Lee Marsham,
Chair of Planning Committee, Birmingham City Council

Councillor David Barker, Chair of Sustainability and Transport Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Birmingham City Council

Councillor Yvonne Mosquito,
Bordesley and Highgate Ward, Birmingham City Council

Cc: Mel Jones, Head of Transport Planning; Richard Brooks, Interim Strategic Director of
City Operations; Richard Lawrence, Executive Director Place, Prosperity, and Sustainability;
Sally Wood, Director of Public Health; Beccy Marston, West Midlands Active Travel Commissioner; Julia Robinson, Southside BID Manager.

Sent by email

6 June 2025

Second multi-year closure of Kent Street cycle track (Permit: ARN-4605-62576788) and issues with considerations around Planning and granting of street works permits under BCCPS

Dear Councillors,

We are writing to escalate a further multi-year closure of the separated cycle track on Kent Street in the city centre for construction works, the second since its opening in 2019. This is the most central section of the A38 cycleway and is within the Southside BID area.

The A38 cycleway is the city’s best used cycle scheme and has funding secured to extend it to Longbridge, which is imminently progressing to consultation.

Between 2021 and 2025, a stretch of the cycle track along Kent Street was closed for construction works with an unsatisfactory diversion put in place for the duration. Earlier this year, the closure was lifted and the separated cycle track reopened in whole, reinstating a safe cycle route to the city centre. We were given assurances by officers that such a closure would not happen again in future.

Regrettably, according to the Council’s roadworks information website, a new multi-year closure has been implemented, closing a new section of the Kent Street cycle track until 2028. This is despite the assurances that we were given during the previous closure as well as a submission made through the planning process that requested due consideration be given to the cycle track to avoid a repeat of the previous closure.

There is a diversionary route in place which is wholly unacceptable. It diverts people via Gooch Street North and Bromsgrove Street, the latter of which is an incredibly high traffic road – often gridlocked – and is inappropriate for cyclists to use as an alternative to the cycleway.

The diversionary signage is also incredibly poor, especially given the length of the closure. It is placed on pavements which can be blocked by vehicles, and for out-of-city trips, the signage is too late for the diversion, meaning people have to double back on themselves to go back to Bromsgrove Street.

Given the length of time of the closure and previous assurances given that it would not happen again, we are asking for an expedient reassessment of the street works permit with a view towards ordering a change to the permitted diversion and enabling cycle traffic along Kent Street.

We recommend that this could be done in one of several ways:

1. The section of Kent Street between Gooch Street North and Lower Essex Street could be temporarily closed to motor vehicles, enabling people using the cycle track to use the main carriageway bidirectionally instead.
   
2. Parking bays could be suspended and used for motor traffic movements, with a temporary cycle track facilitated using barriers:
   
   1. On-carriageway for in-to-city flow and a contraflow for out-of-city flow
      
   2. A bidirectional cycleway adjacent to the closed section

Planning and granting of street works licences under BCCPS

Furthermore, we must express wider concerns that Planning and Highways appear to not consider the needs of all road users during the planning process for small and medium developments, or traffic management during construction.

One such recent example is that for a proposed Lidl supermarket (2023/07943/PA), neither Highways nor Planning officers acknowledged in their report that the boundary of the site has two major transport proposals being progressed – the A38 cycle track between Selly Oak and Longbridge and cross-city bus package 4. Had the application not been refused by the Planning Committee, it could have made a catastrophic impact on the deliverability of the cycle track.

Another recent experience was a planning application (2024/07440/PA) where a developer requested to omit a pedestrian and cycle link from the East of their development which will contain community facilities and a school – making the development totally impermeable.

The omission of the link means that one third of the 1.2km journey to the nearest high street and supermarket  – which could be walked or cycled – must now use the high traffic Frankley Beeches Road as opposed to the planned high-quality car free alternative before the omission was granted. 

Therefore, in light of the Kent Street closure and other experiences with the planning process, we request that the Planning Committee instructs an internal review of the interactions between Planning, Highways and Transport Planning during the statutory planning and construction process, as well as during the granting of street works licences, to ensure that the needs and safety of all road users are being satisfactorily considered and addressed.

As we must continue to restate, addressing the road safety emergency will only succeed once all directorates of the Council are working towards the same vision. The Council continues to demonstrate that this is not the case.

As ever, we stand ready to work constructively with officers to address the issues we have outlined, though we must stress that the Kent Street cycle track issue must be rectified promptly.

Best wishes

Martin Price and Cath Palgrave
Co-chairs
Better Streets for Birmingham