Community News From Around Our Area

Mayor Andy Street Hails Work on New Cycleway

West Midlands Mayor, Andy Street, says a 6km cycleway through east Coventry will enable more people to cycle on their journeys.

Work has begun on the cycle route, which will allow people to safely travel by bike from the city centre to University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire via the Binley Business Park on Harry Weston Road.

Mr Street, who leads the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), said, “It’s exciting to see work has begun on this cycleway, which is part of our ambitious plans for a 500-mile Starley Network of safe cycle routes.

“As safety is a key barrier preventing more people cycling along some of our busier roads, we know we need new, safe cycleways to convince more people to leave the car at home. The Binley Cycleway is a wonderful example of this in action and work is underway right now to get this delivered.”

The WMCA board approved £8.6 million to fund the safe Binley Cycleway. Coventry City Council and Transport for West Midlands (TfWM), which is part of the WMCA, have developed plans to deliver a cycle scheme that will form part of a wider 10km strategic East-West connection, linking with the Coundon Cycleway which is currently under construction.

It is designed to enable more of the thousands of people who live, work and study along this busy route to swap their car for a bike on local journeys ­‑ easing congestion, improving air quality and reducing journey times. Cycling more will also have health benefits for those doing so, and a healthier population will help to ease pressure on our Health Services.

The scheme went through two rounds of public consultation, which saw 69% of responses in favour of protected cycleways, with respondent feedback applied to the detailed designs to deliver a scheme that residents asked for.

The final scheme has the potential to increase the number of daily cycle journeys taken in this area by over 400%, greatly supporting the region-wide objective of increasing cycle journeys from 1% to 5% of all journeys by 2023.

The cycleway to the University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire will be completed in March 2023. It will form part of the 500-mile Starley Network, being delivered across the region.

Caption: Councillor Jim O’Boyle, Cllr Patricia Hetherton, Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands, and Adam Tranter, West Midlands Cycling and Walking Commissioner, take a look at the work that has started on the cycleway.