A huge row has blown up over Birmingham City Council’s plans to close a key road leading to the Westside area for two of the main trading days before Christmas.
Westside Business Improvement District (BID) has described the closure of Grosvenor Street West from 9.30am to 3.30pm on Tuesday 13 and Wednesday 14 December as “commercial vandalism”.
Grosvenor Street West sits behind Broad Street in between Sheepcote Street and Ryland Street and is one of the main access points for customers, taxis and delivery drivers serving businesses in the area.
The planned road closure coincides with next week’s rail strikes, an added complication that will result in many businesses’ staff and customers reverting to cars to get to their destinations in and around Westside.
Mike Olley, general manager of Westside BID, explained that he had tried to reason with Mel Jones, head of transport planning and network strategy at Birmingham City Council, but claimed that concerns of businesses in the area had been “ignored”.
Keir Highways, the city’s roads contractor, has said the road closures are for “carriageway patching” ahead of full resurfacing works next spring, and that the temporary repairs were needed to “get us through the winter”.
But Mr Olley said: “This feels like wanton commercial vandalism by disconnected bureaucrats without any thought for the massive damage that will be done to the area’s commerce and business.
“To have to close one of the key routes into Westside for two prime trading days ahead of Christmas clearly shows major errors in the planning of how the city looks after its road network.
“Why couldn’t this be done during the Christmas break when the roads are quieter? More importantly, how on earth has the road been allowed to get into such a bad way in the first place, particularly given the obvious opportunities there were to repair key corridors during Covid-19?”
In an attempt to ease “traffic chaos” next week, Mr Olley said he had suggested that the council should open bus lanes to general traffic during the repairs, but that this had not been acted on. He also pointed out that the council had failed to carry out a formal environmental impact assessment of its planned works, as legally required.
One trader, Mark Gribben, owner of Ethos Flowers of Brindleyplace, said: “It is ridiculous to close such a major route for two crucial trading days before Christmas. Why can’t they do it in January?
“This closure will affect a lot of businesses like mine and there’s just no thought going into this. Whatever we suggest they just don’t seem to want to know and are railroading stuff through.
“I’m all for regeneration and there’s always some pain with transport plans, but it’s hugely annoying that people are just not listening to our concerns on the timing.”
Naomi Aly, marketing manager of both the Siamais Thai and Lulu Wild restaurants on Brindleyplace, said: “These road closures will definitely impact businesses at what is the busiest time of year for us. Rail strikes will already cause problems, and now customers planning to come by taxis may decide not to because of the road closures.
“If the council listened to feedback from businesses in the area, we would have recommended doing these works during the downtime of January, not during prime trading days.”
Nitin Solanki, a director of the same Siamais Thai and Lulu Wild group, added: “We are already trying to cope with so many angles, from the world and national economic downturns to rail strikes which are hitting turnover and profitability.
“I don’t think people see it for what it is, but for the local council to allow road closures next week is the worst time ever and is going to hinder our businesses, presenting more barriers in our struggle for survival.”
A spokesperson for Birmingham City Council confirmed that “temporary traffic management plans” on Grosvenor Street West had been scheduled between 9.30am to 3.30pm on Tuesday and Wednesday next week.
The spokesperson said: “The works are urgent repairs to prevent further degradation of the road surface. They will take place outside peak hours in advance of a more extensive maintenance project currently being planned to take place in spring 2023.
“We need these interim repairs to avoid a potential unplanned closure should the carriageway fail. That may risk coincidence with notable events at the large entertainment venues in the Westside area or peak times for night time economy activity.
“We acknowledge there is no good time to close roads, but this has been identified as the least-worst option given the urgent nature of the work.
“Grosvenor Street West was the main bus diversion route during the Metro construction. This not only added to the wear and tear but meant reduced flexibility in terms of scheduling routine maintenance. Many people continued to rely on buses during the pandemic and so this had to be taken into consideration in terms of scheduling works, even during those ‘quiet’ times.
“Access and egress to Brindleyplace and other frontages off Sheepcote Street (King Edwards Drive, Symphony Court and Liberty Place, Crescent Theatre, etc) [will be] available via Broad Street and traffic can continue to leave the area via Sheepcote Street.
“More extensive traffic management interventions beyond those already put forward are not considered to provide any benefit for what is a short, off-peak closure.”
Mr Olley added: “This decision is flawed. As the competent highways authority, the council has a clear remit and statutory obligation to keep the traffic flowing. To ignore its obligations is a disappointing and reckless act, disrupting business, risking jobs and threatening shareholder’s investments.”
ENDS
