Meeting the future transport needs of our city
Councillor Waseem Zaffar, Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment, talks about the work the council will be doing to create a more sustainable, future-proof transport network in the city
I want to advise you about a piece of work that we are currently developing that will have important consequences for everyone who lives and works in Birmingham.
The Birmingham Transport Plan 2031 will set out what we believe needs to change if transport is to meet the future needs of our city – a city that will be home to many more residents and that offers a cleaner and healthier environment in which to live and work.
By 2031, Birmingham’s population is expected to have grown by 150,000 people making an additional 1.2 million journeys on the city’s transport network every day.
The plan will contain specific recommendations about meeting our obligation to deliver a carbon-neutral Birmingham. At the heart of this is the need to help the city to become a place where walking, cycling and using green public transport are the best and most preferred ways of travel, reducing our reliance on private cars. Transport is an essential ingredient in ensuring that the growth of Birmingham is both inclusive and sustainable.
These are big, big ambitions that will not be achieved overnight. While some elements of the transformation process will be delivered in the near future – for example the Clean Air Zone in 2020 – others will need to be included in a lengthy period of managed change in which decreasing dependence on private cars is matched by increasing accessibility to alternative modes of travel. This will need to be supported by very significant investment in public transport and active travel infrastructure.
The vision for a clean, green, go-anywhere transport network will not be gained by the city council acting on its own. I cannot emphasise enough the need for the whole of the city to understand the extent of the challenges we face and share in the ownership and delivery of the solutions.
Over the next few weeks we will publish a draft of the Birmingham Transport Plan. This will be in the form of a public consultation document that will be the subject of engagement and discussions with all of our partners and stakeholders. Only after that process has taken place will the plan be finalised and formally adopted by the city council.
This blog was posted on 22 October 2019
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