As part of planning ways to live our lives as normally as possible with coronavirus present, Birmingham City Council are introducing new measures to help citizens maintain good social distancing practices in the city’s public spaces.
Parks and open spaces
The city’s grounds maintenance team has come up with a creative solution to help residents practice social distancing in our local parks and outdoor spaces.
Since Monday 11th May, crews mowing grass at the city’s 591 sites are now cutting ‘channels’ that are roughly 2m in width, leaving channels of the same width uncut. It is hoped this will act as a visual and practical guide to help people use open spaces safely.
Cllr John O’Shea, Cabinet Member for Street Scene and Parks at Birmingham City Council, said that grass cutting duties had been paused during the initial coronavirus restrictions while some parks staff were diverted to other tasks. Now, some staff are returning to regular duties and grass cutting has re-started.
He said: “Because the grass has been left to grow for several weeks, it means where the grass is cut there will be a notable difference.
“By cutting these channels, we will be making our parks more usable – and usable in a safer way, where people will have some guidance on how to follow the national guidelines to stay 2m away from people outside of your family.
“The fact that we have 591 parks and open spaces of vastly differing sizes means it is not easy to promote the social distancing message across each and every site, but this is a way of doing something, best utilising the limited resources we have at this challenging time.
“We were already looking at this idea, but now the Prime Minister has made announcements that will inevitably lead to a significant increase in visits to city parks, now is the time to try this out.”
Visitor centres, cafés, play areas, games areas and outdoor gyms will remain closed until further progress is made in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
Socially distanced high streets
Birmingham City Council officers have also been assessing high streets and town centres with high pedestrian activity, to find ways to meet the challenges of maintaining social distancing in these busy spaces.
Kings Heath high street – alongside Erdington high street – has been identified as a priority and will see changes over the coming days.
Narrow pavements and street parking on Kings Heath High Street will make social distancing difficult so a project previously proposed for air quality improvements – including pavement widening and suspension of parking bays – is now set to be progressed.
The agreed temporary measures will be implemented over the coming days and the effects monitored, with any additional measures or alterations being made where required.
The local authority is continuing to assess other local centres across the city and further measures will be announced over coming weeks.
Councillor Waseem Zaffar, Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment said: “The pandemic has highlighted the need to provide more safe spaces in our local centres for walking, cycling and social distancing.
“We are grateful to members of the local community who have contacted us with their suggestions and have been out to assess local centres as quickly as we can.
“These two schemes are just the start. We will continue to monitor travel patterns as lockdown restrictions are eased to review where further action is needed. This will look at safety issues, but also how to encourage and enable people to walk and cycle, so car-free travel is seen as a viable option for many trips, especially in local areas.”
“Longer term, we want to see a low-carbon recovery in Birmingham in line with our vision for a sustainable, green, inclusive transport network that supports economic growth, tackles climate change and promotes the health and wellbeing of all citizens.”
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