The general manager and street wardens at Westside BID are – quite literally – getting on their bikes to help improve pavements along the new tram route up Broad Street.
The creative assistance was devised when it was realised that the new pavements sometimes created an identifiable rattle under bike wheels if they had not settled properly.
This was discussed with tram extension workers on the ground who agreed that bike wheel rattles were often a dependable way of discovering sub-standard pavement areas.
Westside BID is now busy finding, marking and reporting any such areas via Birmingham City Council which is then instructing Midland Metro Alliance (MMA) work teams to investigate and relay paving where needed.
Mike Olley, general manager of Westside BID, said: “Feeling an identifiable rattle under bike wheels often indicates that a new surface hadn’t been laid properly.
“Myself and street wardens regularly ride up and down Broad Street as part of our jobs, and whenever we find poor quality areas we report them to Metro workers – via the city council – and they fix them if needed.
“It’s a low-tech solution but it works and is just one way the BID is helping tram extension workers to get the new route up and running as soon as possible.”
An example of problems discovered by BID wardens include loose paving outside the Moda building, adjacent to Lee Longlands, which was reported via the city council’s ‘BID Base’ system on 24 January. MMA workers have now repaired this.
Two other areas are pavement drops outside the Commonwealth offices, reported on 9 February, and outside O’Neill’s, reported on 10 February. MMA work on both areas is now understood to be in process.
The bikes used by Westside BID include e-cargo bikes that came from a £58,000 grant that Birmingham City Council received from the Department for Transport two years ago.
Mr Olley said: “The bikes are great, sturdy little machines and this is yet another way they are proving crucial to our work.”
Antony Lowbridge-Ellis, head of communications at Midland Metro Alliance, declined to comment on the problem paving as he said the city council was now responsible for many areas involved.
A source at the MMA explained that “much of Broad Street was handed back in spring 2021” after working “very closely” with the council to “agree” which footpaths had been “signed off as being compliant with the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991”.
The source added: “Our workers would only get involved following the council’s instruction to complete additional activity. They could go to any contractor [but] they’d just choose to use us in this instance, as we’re already in the area.”
Mr Olley explained that all BID wardens have training on compliance matters involved in the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991.
He added: “This enables us to play a vital part in correcting sub-standard paving, and it’s only right and proper that the council instructs MMA to rectify any sub-standard areas, as they laid them in the first place.”
Westside BID also contacted Birmingham City Council about the paving problems, but no-one was available to comment.
