Agenda item

Report of the Director of Transportation, Highways and Sustainability

The Cabinet Member for City Services considered a report of the Director of Transportation, Highways and Sustainability that sought consideration of the consultation feedback and approval of the works to proceed with the delivery of the CCTMP Phase 2A Red Route and Phase 2B Cycle Route.

The City Centre Traffic Management Plan (CCTMP) was a series of interventions designed to manage traffic in the city centre with an aim to update on-street parking management to reduce the amount of traffic circulating within the centre, thereby improving bus service reliability, improve air quality through reducing queuing traffic, promote active travel, and facilitate the Coventry Very Light Rail (CVLR) City Centre Demonstrator track which would run from the railway station to the former Ikea building. CCTMP would be delivered in several phases:

Phase

1A  - High St Pedestrian Zone (in delivery)

1B  - Hales St Bus Gate (delivered – a separate objections report was live for this scheme)

2A  - Red route (this report)

2B  - City Centre cycle route (this report)

3  - Bus gates and traffic “zoning” (proposed)

The CCTMP covered the core city centre area generally within the ring road, with a spur out to the railway station. The area was currently covered by a 20 mph zone and a Restricted Parking Zone (RPZ). The CCTMP proposals retained the 20 mph zone but would involve the replacement of the blanket city centre with alternative parking arrangements. This change was required to facilitate the introduction of the “red route” on core public transport routes within the city centre, as legislation did not allow a red route approach to be applied within a RPZ area. 

The report covered Phase 2A of the CCTMP, which would see the removal of the existing RPZ, the introduction of new RPZs covering smaller areas of the core city centre, and the introduction of red route restrictions allowing mobile enforcement of parking restrictions to be introduced. On some other streets, traditional parking restrictions (using yellow lines) would be introduced. 

Later stages of CCTMP (Phase 3) would aim to make more permanent measures to create traffic management cells within the city centre whereby individual areas of the city were accessed directly from specific ring road junctions (for example, traffic accessing the University would use Junction 3 to enter and leave the area).

The existing RPZ was currently delineated on site with signage to distinguish start and end points, with on-street parking only permitted in designated, marked bays. No road markings were used to indicate where parking was not permitted. This proposed phase of CCTMP (2A) would remove portions of the existing Restricted Parking Zone and replace them with red and yellow lining to denote the parking restrictions.

Phase 2B of CCTMP would deliver a segregated cycleway in the city centre, funded through the Department for Transport’s Active Travel Fund tranche 4.  It would connect Greyfriars Green to Pool Meadow Bus Station, via Queen Victoria Road, Corporation Street, Hales Street and Fairfax Street.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet Member for City Services, having considered the feedback to the City Centre proposals consultation – Located in Appendix D to the report, approves the works to proceed with the delivery of the CCTMP Phase 2A Red Route and Phase 2B Cycle Route.