ACCESSIBLE & CONNECTED

across Colmore and Retail BIDs. Prior to this we worked with a University of Birmingham student on the development of a greening plan to look at transforming our urban spaces for the betterment of biodiversity and well-being.

The BID didn’t abandon the City Centre despite the huge numbers of people working from home. Our efforts to keep the city centre welcoming included: n Over 1,000 hours of street cleaning, with the District getting a once-over every morning. n About 71,000 square metres of deep cleansing to remove deep-seated grime from our streets, including removing over half a million pieces of discarded chewing gum. n Over 100 Christmas lights and other decorations. n Fifteen flower towers during the summer. n Commissioning and installing five unique artworks to adorn the parklets, using the services of artists shortlisted for the delayed Livery Street Wall art project.

We have made considerable progress on many of our projects this year, but there is always more to do! 2021 is set to be another busy year, with more schemes coming to fruition and we can’t wait to see what you think of them!

PAUL FIELDING

DEPUTY CHAIR OF COLMORE BID AND WORKING GROUP LEAD, ACCESSIBLE & CONNECTED

KEY PROJECTS FROM 2020:

Cycle Works leaflets designed and printed

Key consultations with Birmingham City Council

Much like most walks of life, 2020 has been a strange year for the Accessible and Connected working group. With the changes to working life, we have been heavily focused on signposting people who come in and out of the area, to ensure they move around in the safest way possible, whilst adhering to relevant social distancing measures. Congestion on the roads has certainly eased this year albeit for completely the wrong reasons. The popularity of cycling has increased dramatically, and we were delighted to see plans for emergency bike lanes implemented around the city. The working group was consulted on the city centre segments plan by Birmingham City Council (BCC). This plan was implemented in phases and caused, in parts, significant traffic delays to the eastern part of the District and this resulted in us representing the businesses that were suffering and one of the two bus gates has been suspended at least temporarily.

The group was somewhat cautious about the introduction of the Voi e-scooter scheme in the core of the city centre; however it was pleasing to see that a largely younger element of the city’s population has been hiring the machines. 35,000 rides had been recorded in 70 days. The scheme is now being rolled out into the suburbs.

Looking to 2021, we will continue to work with partners to champion the City’s Clean Air Zone, as pollution remains highly topical, ensuring businesses are prepared for the changes coming into force in the summer. We will continue to support and publicise BCC’s communication on the Clean Air Zone as we move ever closer to the launch. We will also continue to press our public and private sector colleagues in working towards finding a solution to freight issues and in particular last-mile delivery services.