Our Plan for a Cleaner, Greener and Safer Birmingham

Over 900 people a year die from pollution-related causes across Birmingham. Some of the most heavily polluted roads in our city are High Streets in the heart of our communities; others are the main roads so many people travel every day. That’s why we need to take action and that’s why we have a plan to deliver a cleaner, greener, and safer City.

 

Over the last five years Birmingham Labour have let the City down; locally in our City Labour have overseen fly tipping growing out of all control while they have made little progress on tackling air pollution and refuse to work jointly with the Police and West Midlands Mayor to make our neighbourhoods safer.

 

Birmingham is at a crossroads: we have the youngest City in the Country and are set to host the Commonwealth Games in 2022, yet our streets are covered in litter and the Council’s Labour administration has been subject to thirteen external inspectors for failings.

 

Birmingham needs a Council that has the vision and ambition to match and surpass the aspirations of residents over the next decade. That’s what we are putting to the people of Birmingham ahead of the 2018 Local Elections - our vision for a Cleaner, Greener and Safer place to live.

 

Birmingham and Sutton Coldfield Conservatives have an action plan to help deliver cleaner air and a greener Birmingham over the next ten years. Our plan includes: 

 

  • Roll out living green walls in suitable ‘canyon’ style locations, such as the Aston Expressway (pictured). Green walls are proven to clean up to 40% of pollutants in the air around them. 

 

  • Trial new technology, capable of helping clean our air such as ‘city trees’ which have the cleaning impact of 275 trees but are the size of two benches, in pollution ‘hot spots’ across the city such as High Streets. If the trial is successful, we will roll them out across the city. 

 

  • Improve public transport, including working with the Mayor to re-open the Camp Hill and Tamworth railway lines including new passenger stations at Balsall Heath, Castle Vale, Kings Heath, improve Kings Norton Station, Stirchley, Sutton Park and Walmley, and investigating possible new mass transit travel routes across the city. 

 

  • Stop Labour’s plans to build on 8 acres of parkland a year which removes valuable green space. 

 

  • Increase the tree canopy of the city from the current 18% to at least 30% in line with global cities like Boston. 

 

  • Work with the Canal and River Trust to harness the potential of the canal network for transport and energy generation. 

 

  •  Work with the university and manufacturing sectors to continue developing Green Technology which may allow lower emission generation in the first place. 

 

  • Reshape the Council planning policies to ensure well placed public transport links and create a public transport investment fund from developers to ensure new mass public transport routes are created. 

 

  • Create more park and ride facilities to encourage public transport use. 

 

  • Look to introduce Urban Consolidation Centres to reduce the number of goods vehicles in the City Centre and local centres. 

 

  • Re-phase traffic signals/junctions where possible to lower emissions created by traffic. 

 

Our Clean Air Plan for Birmingham