Further footway widening on Ladypool Road

Council officers have been out to assess areas where there is high pedestrian activity and difficulties in achieving safe social distancing, following requests from local residents, businesses and council members.

Earlier in the month, footway widening was implemented on two of the city’s busiest high streets – Erdington High Street and Kings Heath High Street.

Ladypool Road was identified as the next priority area, where narrow pavements and the proximity of parked cars or moving traffic is making it difficult for people to achieve the government guidelines of two metre distancing.

Some of the short-stay on-street parking along Ladypool Road will be suspended to enable pavements to be widened, for local residents to maintain social distancing whilst queuing outside shops. The wider pavements will also provide more space for people to walk and cycle safely. Off-street parking is available in Council car parks on Ladypool Road.  

Councillor Waseem Zaffar, Birmingham City Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment said: “The temporary measures we introduced on Erdington and Kings Heath High Streets have provided with the local community with more space to walk and socially distance themselves from each other.

“Therefore, I welcome the roll-out of similar measures in other local centres including Ladypool Road. I hope that the additional space makes a real difference to local residents – particularly as more local businesses are now preparing to re-open with the government’s easing of lockdown.”

Further schemes are currently in development as the City Council starts to deliver the recently launched Emergency Transport Plan.