Agenda item

Report of the Director of Transportation and Highways

The Cabinet Member for City Services considered a report of the Director of Transportation and Highways that proposed the closure of Cox Street Car Park located next to the West Midlands Travel Ltd Bus Depot and Pool Meadow Bus Station, to accommodate an electric bus charging facility.

The Department for Transport (DfT) launched the All Electric Bus Town fund in February 2020, with £50 million in grant funding made available to allow one town or city within England to make the transition to a bus network operated fully by electric powered buses. The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), as the strategic transport authority, submitted an Expression of Interest, which was developed by Coventry City Council in partnership with Warwickshire County Council, Transport for West Midlands and incumbent Coventry and Warwickshire bus operators.

Consideration of the full business case (FBC) was devolved from the DfT to the WMCA, which was now the accountable body for the Coventry and Warwickshire scheme. The FBC was approved by the WMCA board on 19^th March 2021 and the funding of £50 million was passported from the DfT to the WMCA on 31^st March 2021, allowing the project to proceed.

As a result, Coventry would see over 290 electric buses operating within the city by the end of 2025, supporting the Council’s objectives of a green economic recovery through the de-carbonisation of the city’s transport network, with an estimated emissions saving of around 24,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide and 55 tonnes of nitrogen dioxide per year.

To facilitate the electrification of the bus fleet, it was necessary to provide additional land in the vicinity of the West Midlands Travel Ltd Bus Depot and the Pool Meadow Bus Station to accommodate an electric bus charging facility. Cox Street Car Park, as shown on the plan at Appendix 1 to the report, was ideally located for this initiative and so it was proposed that the car park was closed to the public and the site re-purposed as a bus charging facility.

It was further proposed to stop up the length of public highway in Ford Street (shown on the plan in Appendix 2 to the report) which served as a public vehicular access to Cox Street Car Park. This was to facilitate seamless integration and access to the electric bus charging infrastructure. 

RESOLVED that the Cabinet Member for City Services:

1)  Approves the permanent closure of Cox Street car park.

2)  Subject to the approval of recommendation 1 above, approves that officers commence the legal process to remove Cox Street Car Park as identified edged in green on Plan A in Appendix 1 to the report, from the Off-Street Parking Places Order 2005.

3)  Approves that an application be made to the Magistrates’ Court for an Order stopping up the highway as identified on Plan B in Appendix 2 to the report and titled ‘Highways Act 1980, section 116 – Application to Stop Up part of Highway known as Ford Street’, in accordance with the provisions of sections 116 of the Highways Act 1980 and approves that officers commence the legal process required for achieving this.

4)  Delegates authority to the Director of Highways and Transportation, following consultation with the Director of Property Services and Development, to negotiate terms for a market rent for the site.

5)  Delegates authority to the Director of Highways and Transportation and the Director of Law and Governance, following consultation with the Director of Finance, to execute all necessary agreements and orders necessary to give effect to the recommendations set out in the report.