Across UK Central

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The UK Central Infrastructure & Interchange programmes comprise of over £1,990m of investment, supported by the West Midlands Combined Authority and other partners.  The targeted investment programme will help deliver the UK Central vision of generating up to £7bn gross GVA and to drive the economic potential of the region.

The UK Central projects combine those focused in geographical areas of the Hub, North Solihull, Solihull Town Centre and Blythe Valley/A34 Corridor as well as those spanning across the Borough.

Wild flowers and bees.

Wildlife Ways.

We’re making Solihull even greener through new trees, the creation of wildflower areas and bulb planting. Wildlife Ways will see our contractors, Balfour Beatty, widening and connecting existing paths and cycle routes with green spaces, whilst idverde will be planting 800 trees, 3.5 million bulbs, wildflower turf and grass seed.

This will improve Solihull’s physical appearance and also support a variety of wildlife. And we will all benefit from improved air quality and better water drainage too.

Visit Wildlife Ways
Solihull Train Station building.

Cycling & Walking

To support Solihull’s Transport Strategy Solihull Connected, a Cycling and Walking Strategy is currently being developed for the Borough.

Cycling and walking are recognised as important components to reduce congestion, improve air quality and enhance physical and mental health. Cycling and walking have the real potential to enhance the vibrancy and special character across Solihull Borough.

The strategy will set out our vision for how we will deliver cycling and walking infrastructure, how we will improve the capability and confidence of our residents to cycle and walk more often and how we will ensure new developments cater for cycling and walking.

The Cycling and Walking Strategy is a key step in our approach to accommodate growth in travel demand on our network and how we will seek to maintain Solihull’s character.

Clean Growth

UK Central is committed to delivering sustainable, clean growth. The Council’s Climate Change Prospectus articulates Solihull’s low carbon vision – ensuring that we capture every economic opportunity arising from the UK’s transition to a low carbon economy.

A wide range of projects feature in the Climate Change Prospectus, covering topics ranging from energy efficiency and waste reduction to environmental education. Two current key projects include the Solihull Town Centre Energy Network and Wildlife Ways.

Climate Change Prospectus

Future Mobility

Mobility underpins human activity, connecting people to jobs, markets, opportunities and each other. The increasing ease and lowering cost of owning and running a motorised vehicle has led to an increased dependency on them to meet our primary mobility needs. However, for urban areas in particular, the high usage of these vehicles is presenting both environmental and social challenges.

Working closely with Transport for West Midlands (TfWM), the Low Carbon Future Mobility project is responding to these challenges.

Recognising the productivity, health, environmental and experiential benefits of a modal shift away from single occupancy motor vehicles, the project is focused on identifying and addressing real-world transport challenges within the UK Central Solihull area. By harnessing data collected across multiple sources, working alongside partners, the project identifies optimum interventions and then works to introduce, incubate and scale-up the new or re-imagined mobility solutions, with a view to creating a compelling, reliable, efficient and affordable mobility eco-system that means the car can be left at home.

The project is working with private sector stakeholders to explore new technologies while encouraging cross sector innovation and investment.

CAV Trials

CAV (Connected Autonomous Vehicle) technology has the potential to revolutionise the way we get around our towns, cities and rural areas. Solihull Council is working to understand how we can safely and practically start to incorporate this technology into our future transport infrastructure.

Working in partnership with a range of public and private sector organisations, Solihull Council is demonstrating real-world use cases for automated vehicles.  As well as delivering detailed feasibility studies, a  series of successful passenger trials involving the use of a fully electric self-driving shuttle have already taken place in Solihull, across the NEC, Birmingham Airport and Birmingham Business Park.

Already one of the best-connected destinations in the UK and Europe, the UK Central Hub is the perfect place to trial autonomous vehicles, providing learning on future mobility services and highway infrastructure design.

Building on the success of previous deployments, Solihull Council is currently leading a consortium of partners to deliver our most ambitious project yet, The Solihull and Coventry Automated Links Evolution (SCALE). This pioneering pathfinder project will look specifically at the commercial viability of self-driving operations, passenger experience and operational factors such as insurance and vehicle maintenance.

SCALE
Photo showing the three autonomous shuttles being used for the SCALE pathfinder project

Road & Junction Improvements

UK Central will deliver a programme of works to bring forward transport capacity and corridor improvements across the borough. These projects include:

  • A452 Chester Road Enhancements where interventions are being sought to reduce current levels of congestion and unlock growth and regeneration in North Solihull, maximising the opportunity of the connectivity of the UK Central Solihull Hub and Midlands Metro.
  • The A34 Stratford Road congestion and future growth plans for the area. We are looking to derive measures to reduce congestion and improve conditions for public transport and active modes, whilst accommodating future travel demands on this important Birmingham-Solihull transport Corridor.
  • The A45 Coventry Road/ Damson Parkway junction is being assessed to determine if there are measures that can be undertaken to reduce congestion on the A45 and Damson Parkway, improving access to the Birmingham Airport and the UK Central Solihull Hub.
  • A town centre access study is also being undertaken which is reviewing the current and predicted traffic flows in relation to the constraints presented by the current road layout.
Bus station at Solihull.

How can we help?

We can support you in your investment decision, offering bespoke:

  • Labour market information
  • Commercial property availability
  • Staff employment and training support
  • Travel planning support
  • Links to the local community
  • Local supply chain information
  • Finance and grants
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