Local Improvement Budget fund could enable Birmingham City Council to protect grass verges and pavement space from parked vehicles

Designed to tackle minor transport issues identified at ward level, the fund will enable the council to deliver transport and highways capital improvement schemes with a total of £1m of capital funding.

These schemes would otherwise be difficult to deliver because they do not match the funding criteria for transportation and highways programmes such as the Safety Scheme Programme and Highway Maintenance Programme.

Individual schemes costing less than £50,000 may contribute to improving air quality and the net-zero carbon target by 2030 such as those that:

• enhance active travel routes;
• reduce road traffic speeds;
• increase one-way streets;
• physically restrain vehicles with bollards and planters, and
• protect grass verges and pavement space from parked vehicles.

Overall, the fund will support a range of programmes and projects which should contribute towards achieving the City Council’s key policies and priorities from the Birmingham Transport Plan.

Birmingham City Council Member for Transport and Environment, Councillor Waseem Zaffar said:

The Local Improvement Budget fund will give local communities the power to resolve the transport issues they face in their area. Whether that’s stopping anti-social parking on pavements, stopping dangerous speeding or protecting grass verges, this fund will allow Birmingham City Council to make the improvements that residents want to see.

Across the city, residents are fed up with anti-social parking on their roads. We must be clear about this: pavements are for people and not cars. This fund will empower local communities, not only to make our neighbourhoods more attractive, but also contribute to cleaning up our air.

Where is funding coming from?

£557,000 will come from the Highway Initiative funding: a reserve which is taken from car parking surpluses to fund transportation and highways initiatives. Its contribution towards the Fund is in line with the regulations that stipulate the acceptable uses of parking surpluses.

The remainder of the fund's balance, of up to £443,000, will be derived, as required, from various grants and contributions which are currently held in unapplied grant reserves.

How will proposed schemes be managed?

Schemes will be influenced by citizens and members then generated by officers within the council who will help to manage the overall list of schemes. They will be assessed against the Local Improvement Budget Scheme criteria assessments checklist.

Who will approve schemes?

Approval of schemes will finally be taken through the Transportation and Highways Board, in consultation with Councillor Zaffar as the Cabinet Member.