Council’s transport chief has defended record on road safety measures
15:58, 08 Jul 2025Updated 16:00, 08 Jul 2025
Road safety campaigners in Harborne
Birmingham council leaders have been accused of achieving ‘too little’ since declaring a road safety emergency nearly a year ago – triggering a strong retort from the city’s transport chief.
Campaigners say the council needs to do better after failing to fulfil a set of urgent actions that were set out following a scrutiny inquiry.
Activist Lucy Caldicott, a member of the Better Streets for Birmingham campaign group, challenged the council’s record on the issue at a meeting of the full council this week, Tuesday July 8.
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She quizzed roads cabinet member Coun Majid Mahmood about why the council had met just two out of 16 recommendations that were set for it by a cross-party scrutiny inquiry in January, including action on dangerous driving and pressing for a London style public transport network.
Some 21 people had lost their lives on city roads since the emergency was declared, she said.
She referred to the findings of a meeting of the transport and sustainability overview and scrutiny committee last month, chaired by Coun David Barker, Lab, Brandwood and Kings Heath, which was highly critical of the council’s response to its list of asks.
She asked Coun Mahmood: “It is 334 days since the council declared a road safety emergency…the council seems not to be treating its own emergency with the seriousness and focus that Birmingham citizens deserve.
“It (recently) emerged that only two of 16 actions on the ‘road safety action tracker’ have been completed…
“What exactly has been achieved…to make our streets safer and what is the leader doing to ensure actions are implemented and recommendations are met.”
READ MORE: The road safety emergency is real and we need changes to make our streets safe
In response, Coun Mahmood said the focus of the council had been on ‘delivering real change’.
He cited a series of actions that had been achieved to reduce harm on the roads, including:
- Reintroducing red light cameras at landmark locations
- Investing £500,000 to deter dangerous driver behaviour
- Rolling out more average speed cameras at priority locations, backed by a £5 million investment
- Trialling new camera sites in the autumn to ensure safer junctions and crossings, supported by over £675,000 in funding
- Holding regular post-collision response meetings
- Investing £2.5m to deliver any recommended targeted infrastructure interventions
He said the council was also working with West Midlands Fire Service to invest £500,000 to deliver speed indication devices which provides vital intel to target enforcement activity.
A total of £2.7m worth of funding has also been distributed for 54 local schemes around the city, championed by ward councillors, he said.
He also highlighted that since the emergency was declared, a total of 66 operations had taken place, and 741 PCNs (penalty notices) had been issued.
Better Streets for Birmingham protesters hold signs as they stand in road during a protest event, 2024
“We have also increased civil enforcement officer patrols in key hotspots, and between 1st July 2024 to 30th June 2025, we have issued 228,235 parking PCNs – an all-time high.”
He said that all 40mph roads in and round the city centre would be removed by the autumn as part of a speed limit standardisation programme, with more 20mph limits and parking controls on the way.
More interventions such as dropped crossings, and bollards to protect against pavement parking, were also being funded through the council’s Vision Zero Capacity Fund.
At the scrutiny meeting, held last month, councillors expressed frustration that some of recommendations made that had been ‘carefully and thoughtfully created’ appeared to have been ignored.
These included a failure to support a joint plan with police to crack down on uninsured drivers, failing to lobby the Government for speeding and other fines to be ringfenced for local spending, and failing to write, with partners, to lobby for more resources to create a London style public transport network in Birmingham.
“Every action should have been achieved by now,” said Coun Waseem Zaffar, Lab, Lozells.
Coun Richard Parkin, Cons, Sutton Reddicap, said of the update on progress towards meeting the recommendations: “This (response) is completely underwhelming. There is nothing here that says the council is treating this like an emergency.
“Having accepted (the recommendations), there is nothing in this half soaked response to show it. I am incredibly disappointed.”
Among the recommendations were calls for the council to link up with other partners including the police and mayor to press for funding, ramp up enforcement efforts and complete promised improvements to roads and crossings.
Coun Mahmood, whose portfolio also includes the waste and parks services, had told the committee that work was under way to make progress on speed enforcement and pavement parking concerns. But he added: “Officers have been working really hard and we all take this very seriously – we know this directly affects people’s lives.”
Coun Barker said many people, including bereaved families, had put a lot of time and effort into helping the council create the recommendations so it was frustrating that they had not appeared to have been heeded.