Former city planning boss slams ‘appalling' Kings Heath and Moseley Red Route
| Published: 6th October 2008 17:38 |
A former city council planning boss has slammed what he calls ‘retrograde' plans to create a Red Route superhighway through Kings Heath High Street and Moseley Village.
The man who helped introduce measures to slow down traffic in residential areas, and now a Moseley resident, says he is appalled at the latest Birmingham City Council plans to speed up the traffic.
"It is painful to see how Birmingham - once a leader in the field - has become so narrow and old-fashioned in its approach," he says.
Alan Wenban-Smith, one of the architects of the South Birmingham Study in the 1990s, is still a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute's national policy committee as well as being a former member of the Transport Planning Society's national executive.
"As the officer responsible for the widespread adoption of traffic calming in Birmingham following the 1993 South Birmingham Study I am appalled at the rash of red routes now appearing. In my professional capacity as a consultant, I am very aware of how retrograde this is in terms of current transport thinking," he says.
One of the key findings of earlier research, he explains, was that all citizens - even car drivers themselves - considered it more important to be able to cross main roads safely than to drive along them fast. He also points to the importance of slowing down traffic to reduce child casualties on the roads.
Alan Wenban-Smith's comments, emailed to AboutMyArea, are sure to embarrass current bosses at Birmingham City Council who are planning a network of Red Routes across the city.
"At the very best this misguided and one-eyed approach may reduce congestion for a couple of years - but at the price of further damage to urban quality of life, driving more urban exodus and so generating more traffic," says Professor Wenban-Smith.
Instead of Red Routes banning parking and reducing pavements to improve the flow of traffic, he says planners should try to reduce congestion by investing in urban regeneration. This, he claims, would reduce the demand for travel, while serious investment in high quality public transport (like light rail) would realise the economic benefits of urban concentration without the environmental and congestion costs.
Read about the public meeting to discuss the Moseley and Kings Heath Red Route plan
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Joined: 30 Oct 2008Posts: 3
What is being proposed for an A435 Red Route fits in with his South Birmingham Study.
Indeed, in his paper, he makes reference and praises a Government White Paper called 'Competitiveness: Helping Business to Win', May 1994, Cmnd 2563. This paper makes reference to Red Routes and Alan includes this in his presentation. Namely:
• speeding up buses, through bus priority measures and 'red routes'
I therefore fail to see why he is now against Red Route, when by implication in 1994 he was supporting them.
Posts: 4