Balsall Common Centre Master Plan

The final plan for an enhanced centre for Balsall Common has been produced by our consultants Arup.

 

This has been amended to reflect the views expressed during the consultation.

 

We have sought to find ways of meeting, often apparently contradictory, residents and business views. We believe that this plan provides a good balance between those views.

 

A professionally produced Master Plan is needed for any significant change. It provides the business case and enough design and costing detail to move to the next step.

 

The plan has the support of SMBC officials who can now progress with other linked studies to ensure there is a comprehensive “access plan” for Balsall Common to provide solutions to through traffic, more cars that come with more house building, improved cycle and pedestrian ways and generally the best environment we can create for the future.

 

By their nature, big changes take a while but we have started on a road of significant improvement.


Current issues, threats & opportunities


  • Parking safety, traffic dominance and speed


 

  • Tired, cluttered and unattractive


 

  • Threat from online and new supermarkets


  • Aldi and Lidl planning applications


 

  • The centre is split by the A452


 

  • Growth of Balsall Common


 

  • Planned relief road


 

  • Government opposition to increasing parking in centres


 

A Master Plan driven by the community


  • 19 focus and working groups to understand the issues and make recommendations


 

  • 1 to 1 phone interviews with over half of businesses


 

  • 3 public exhibitions plus online display of draft plans giving 439 responses


 

  • Meetings with SMBC at every stage by ARUP


 

5 Key changes proposed in Master Plan


  • More attractive public space

  • Greener

  • Pedestrian/cycle friendly with reduced car dominance

  • Traffic calmed Kenilworth & Station Roads - joining the two sides of the centre

  • Extra parking
  • 9 additional car parking spaces
  • Dedicated parking for delivery vehicles
  • Parking limits to make best use of available space e.g. 30 minutes on Station Road
  • Continued free parking

 

 

Click on image to view report

Safe cycling connectivity


Key links


 

  • South to Kenilworth, Coventry and Leamington from Station Road down improved Greenway

 

  • North to NEC and airport

 

  • Balsall Common to Berkswell

 

  • To encourage more cycle use

 

  • Cycle paths on Kenilworth Road through village

 

  • Dedicated cycle/pedestrian links into new housing sites

 

  • Enhanced and safer links across Balsall Common

 

  • Dedicated cycle racks in centre

 

  • Cycling and walking schemes are Government/WMCA priorities with grant funding available

 

cycle-map

Traffic calming Kenilworth Road

–

a combination of measures


Click on image to view report



Detail design and Implementation


A Master Plan is a high level plan to enable further work to progress including how the Balsall Common centre plan fits in with other changes to Balsall Common. A detail design phase comes next, which will specify, in detail, exactly what goes where and how. That detail design will cover many issues of importance to residents and businesses. If you click on this link you will find more information on the issues that will need to be included in detail design and the next stages in the project.

Click on image to view reports



Evidence base



To make a change to the highway, an evidence base is required to justify the change.
ARUP has prepared five reports that are the evidence based required to justify the changes proposed.

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