3. Key recommendations for the Birmingham Road site (cont.)

3. Birmingham Road site should be made up of fine-grained streets with larger plot coverage.

• The fine-grained street pattern of our indicative masterplan received 81 per cent support. Our indicative coarse-grained masterplan (with ‘blocks in space’) received 67 per cent support, showing a public preference for a mesh of welldefined, connected streets, rather than a ‘blocks in space’ layout with larger less defined public space.

• Use an enclosed, greened street to guide people through the Birmingham Road site onto Castle Dyke or the shopping centre. This could resemble a ‘boulevard’ that connects public realm across from Lichfield City Station to Lichfield’s historic centre via Castle Dyke. Protecting views of the Cathedral will also signpost the way for visitors.

4. Focus on the quality of public spaces, not its quantity.

• Public realm should be well enclosed by quality buildings with clear building frontages onto public space and enclosed private spaces at the backs of buildings.

• Smaller public space was preferred by 93 per cent of respondents compared to larger public space. The two favourite public spaces in our survey had high enclosure, ranging in size roughly between 20m x 20m to 40m x 40m. More enclosure with retail or dining spaces can facilitate more human-scaled spaces for gathering, socialising and ‘watching life go by’, as residents asked for.

• Greenery should be prevalent with 94 per cent preference for trees in public realm, over no trees. Use ‘friendly’ street furniture (benches, small stalls, outdoor dining etc.) rather than ‘unfriendly’ clutter (metal bollards, bins, signposts etc.) in public space to complement greenery.

• Some park space is a popular wish. This should be accommodated with accessible greenery, that is well maintained, containing usable amenities (a bandstand was often raised by residents). This space must not be illegible, with dysfunctional features, and poorly maintained.