Protests halt roadworks to reduce congestion in city...

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Work designed to reduce congestion in an area of Coventry has been halted because of protests



The city council said work on the Spon End site had been disrupted by a "small group of protesters".

People living nearby have complained the road-widening scheme will bring traffic closer to their homes.

One of them, Jane Garner, said the council was "sacrificing" residents' quality of life in Spon End in return for an "instant fix".

Her family have lived on the street for more than 100 years.

"This is a conservation area and by removing the parking and putting in a fourth lane of traffic the council will be putting HGVs and double decker buses less than 10 foot from our front doors," she said.

Ms Garner has been trying to sell the property to pay for her father's care, but said sales had fallen through, because of concern about the roadworks.

She said her street was already polluted by traffic and argued this was not "being taken into account".

Another resident, Judith Craig, said: "You can't hear properly, I've had to restructure my house that I live in. I can't live in the front part of it, because since Covid, we've had more traffic down here."

She said she had been leafletting people and organising petitions to stop the work, but the stress was starting to affect her.

Both pointed out the street was lined with listed properties.

One protester, Haydn Chick, climbed a tree on the road to stop it being cut down.

He said: "We need to look at the value of trees, the value of nature, we can't continually just carry on cutting mature trees down."

The city council said work had been suspended to "ensure that the protesters came to no harm".

It said it would now look at how to ensure people could choose to protest in a way that "does not put themselves, or anyone else, in harm's way".

It also promised to plant new trees to replace those that would be cut down.

The local authority said the work to widen the road was necessary to reduce queuing traffic at a pinch point, and it said it was important if pollution in the city was to be reduced.

Work to the city's road network was agreed with the government and the council said: "If our contractors continue to be prevented from carrying out this work then we run the risk that the government may choose to impose a Clean Air Zone on the city instead."

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It'll be devastating for the few shops that remain in Spon End as their customers will no longer be able to park outside.

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Godiva Carpets has left Spon End. The previous occupant was Lister's Garage who left when the road widening scheme was first proposed.

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The tree-huggers were out in force this evening, making a bit of a party of it.

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Protestors want Spon End road-widening scheme scrapped by council



PROTESTORS fighting controversial Coventry City Council plans to widen a road in Spon End have stopped work being carried out on the scheme.

The proposals – to make the B4106 from Hearsall Lane to Windsor Street four lanes wide – is part of the authority’s Air Quality Action Plan put forward to reduce pollution and prevent the introduction of a congestion charge similar to London, Birmingham and other cities.

But campaigners say as well as impacting on residents’ lives by bringing traffic closer to their homes the ‘quick fix’ will ‘simply move air pollution around’ rather than solving the issue.

Protestors climbed trees and set up camp, leading to work being temporarily suspended.

One resident Jane Garner has lived in a listed cottage in the area for 50 years and her family have been there for more than a century.

She said: “We already get black pollution particles in our homes from the traffic fumes but at least the cars parked outside provide a buffer.

“We have no gardens so our homes will be right next to the road used by cars, buses and HGVs, meaning more pollution.”

She added her mum died of lung cancer in 2019 and her dad – who used to be very active – passed away last year with Alzheimer’s, adding air pollution had been linked to both conditions.

“Spon End used to have a lovely community where everyone knew everyone and in our back gardens and other areas you would not know you were just a mile from Coventry city centre.

“These days we are just a place to pass through as people head into the city.

“If they increase the number of lanes, there will just be more space for motorists to fill with their vehicles.

“It is doing nothing to dissuade drivers from using their cars.”

Instead she said the council should create a park and ride with reasonable fares, help more companies encourage home-working or introduce car-share schemes.

And she added if the scheme must go ahead, the council needed to either compulsory purchase her property and others or provide compensation as the buildings would be unsellable.

She warned residents in nearby areas that they too could face similar battles in the future.

“For example, long-term, the Old Allesley Road could be a ‘ready-made dual carriageway’ – they introduce these things bit by bit and we don’t know what will happen next.”

We contacted Coventry City Council but it had not provided a response at the time of going to press.

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Spon End tree protesters say 'battle is not over' as they pack up site after injunction



Spon End tree protesters are packing up their camp site today (March 22) after Coventry City Council 's high court injunction was successful. They were told yesterday they had to leave by midday on Tuesday and police were at the scene to ensure they did.

The injunction was heard at Birmingham Magistrates' Court on Friday (March 18) before being adjourned until Monday (March 21) when a decision was made. Protesters moved to the site back in February to prevent trees being cut down in order for the council to carry out air quality works.

The stretch of road from Spon End to Butts Lane needs to be widened after the Government said a charging zone would need to be introduced if the city council didn't do something to help reduce nitrogen dioxide levels in the city. Holyhead Road has the highest levels and the aim is to give traffic heading into the city centre more than one main road to use.

CoventryLive spent this morning at the site where local resident and fellow tree protector Gibo Gibson said it is a "sombre day" but "the battle's not over". He said: "The council finally got the interim injunction on the camp so we've been told we need to be out of here by midday.

"At present we're dismantling the campsite and we're going to move out of the designated fence area. They've sort of won you know, they've got the injunction, but the battle's not over. It's a little victory for Jim O'Boyle.

"Today will be a bit of a sombre day. There's a lot of friendships that have sort of built up around the camp, it's like a little community.

"Most of the people in the block have been coming down with stuff for the guys - it's been a really great community pull together. It's made the strength of the community stronger."