I agree that things are not satisfactory as they are, and that we need action. The Focus Group have been saying that for years now. I think the action requires to be thought through very carefully though. I don’t agree that ALL that is needed is double yellows and enforcement of parking restrictions though - see Mick’s comments on your other posting about Oxford Road and the Bus Lanes for expansion on that.

In regard to Shared Space - this is not really about pavements. This is a slight misreading of Shared Space - you might like to browse some of our street design links and Shared Space videos for more info on this. It is true that a proper redesign is going to cost money, and, yes, it would involve a complete reconsideration of the way that the space in the centre is used and not just in the lower half Wilkinson’s to Post Office area, but all the way up the Warwick Road as well. This is what we are asking for. However, Acocks Green has not really had any serious money spent on its centre since the nineteen-seventies. We have become a Cinderella suburb in many ways. Other areas of our general broad type and vintage, eg Erdington, Northfield and Kings Heath, have had, or are about to have, a lot of money spent on them. We find this very worrying, and we think we need to stop being so accepting.

I quite agree with you on the parking issue. I think double yellow lines on one side would suffice though.

I disagree about the Warwick Road bus lane. Once this is got rid of traffic for Warwick Road to Solihull will move into the left hand lane, whilst traffic for Shirley Road/Westley Road and Warwick Road North will move into the right hand lane. Traffic flow will be greatly eased. However, I think abolishing the bus lane needs to be brought in as part of a properly thought out plan for the centre as a whole.

There is a serious issue with parking in the shopping centre which goes back many years. This needs drastic action to resolved by using the extra space potential in the shopping centre, as a whole, much better than it is being used. A proper long term plan is needed. I think if we concentrate only on saying “Don’t” to people then all we do is encourage motorists - “lazy” or otherwise - to shop elsewhere, eg Solihull, or Shirley, where parking facilities are much better. Especially given the forthcoming competition from the planned Tesco development in Yardley, Acocks Green centre will die.

Fair question. I have made a new post on this topic.

Glad you like the blog.

The meeting on 20 March went very well. The Council are prepared to invest some money into carrying out a feasibility study into regenerating the centre of Acocks Green. They will look at our Shared Space style suggestion, amongst others.

You are very welcome to join us on Monday 21 May when our speakers, leading Shared Space advocate Ben Hamilton-Baillie, Phil Jones (Traffic Consultant) and Will Thornton (for Birmingham Focus on Blindness) will be explaining how Shared Space works, and we will debate how it could work for Acocks Green.

Best wishes

Julia