Question ENV5
Original Document
How can the canal and river environment be developed to attract more people, become a focus for leisure and commercial activities and provide a safe movement network giving access to the wider city centre, whilst at the same time maintaining its historic character and appearance?
Plain English Translation
What can we do around the canal and river areas to attract more people? How can we make them a focus for leisure and commercial activities? How can we make them a safe way of getting round the city? How can we do all this without changing what they look like and their historic character?
The areas of canal walkway that I have seen and used are often unsafe and don't provide comfortable walking space for more and one person to use. Widening and paving more of the walkways and cutting back a lot of the hedgerows would make the canals a more social and communal place to walk.
It would also open up opportunities for group activities such as walks, runs and cycling along the canal providing a much more scenic alternative and safer option than Birmingham roads.
Also providing more public awareness of the canal routes and how they link the city would be much needed but I think the routes would be very popular and provide another attraction for visiters to the city.
Certain streets could be transformed into Amsterdam style avenues, with the road running parallel to the canal. This would make walking or driving these streets more accessable and user friendly, allowing shops and bars to be developed along these routes.
I would think schemes of this type would not be that expensive to create either.