Council wins award for Broadgate as new work planned

[dutchman]

Changes to Broadgate and the city centre have earned council chiefs an award.



A £7million council project was praised at a ceremony for the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transport.

It saw Bull Yard developed and Broadgate transformed into a paved square ahead of Coventry hosting Olympic football matches.

Half of the pot was funded through an EU scheme but the council led the way on the project.

And now more European Regional Development Fund cash has been handed to bosses for further city centre work.

Four major developments are planned aimed at focusing on celebrating the city’s heritage.

It comes as the council picked up the Effective Partnerships award, beating the team that delivered London's Olympic Transport network.

Coun Lynnette Kelly, cabinet member for business, said her team had worked hard with a tight budget and time constraints.

And now the council has announced plans to transform further areas of the city, including outside Council House.

Traffic lights will be removed and the road narrowed with sandstone paving extended from High Street - towards Broadgate - and more trees planted.

Similar work, dubbed shared spaces, has already been carried out in the city centre.

The historic route of Far Gosford St and Gosford Street will be stitched together with a junction in Sky Blue Way re-designed.

And a £140,000 Centro grant will see changes to Trinity Street including a new zebra crossing, paving, bus shelters and bus stops plus disabled parking bays.

Connections between Spon Street and the Lower Precinct shopping area will also be improved.

Coun Rachel Lancaster, cabinet member for public services, said: "We have done some great work so far - transforming Broadgate and Bull Yard and setting a really high standard for developers who want to come and invest here.

"Now we need to start to join up some of this great work – creating a network of high quality routes across the city centre."

Councillors are expected to rubber stamp the plans on Tuesday (July 9).