At our first general meeting for 2026/27, Coventry Society focussed on transport in Coventry. We had two excellent presentations from Colin Knight, Director of Innovation at the Council who provided us with an update on the Very Light Railway (VLR) and Neil Benison, Transport Planning Manager at the Council, who covered the transport strategy. This briefing centres on the latter. There will be a separate article on the VLR.
The Council published its 15-year transport strategy in 2022 which runs from 2022/23 to 2036/37. It is sub-divided into 3 x 5-year periods and 2026/27 is the final year of the first period.
The overriding aim is ‘accessible for everyone’. It covers all forms of transport from walking and cycling through to public transport and car usage as well as making connection with national and international travel such as HS2. The strategy tackles several challenges:
- Climate change eg encouraging the use of electric vehicles and bringing forward alternatives to the use of the private car such as bus routes and the VLR
- Improving health and well-being eg reducing air pollution caused by vehicles and supporting walking and cycling
- Improving safety eg reducing the number of road accidents and implementing safe streets for schools
- Helping the City’s economy eg ensuring there are good public transport connections to major employment areas such as the gigafactory site, Anstey Park and the University of Warwick.
In relation to the last point, the Council has developed a ‘clover leaf’ set of possible routes for the VLR. But these are not set in stone. Neil emphasises that the data suggests these are the most likely routes where there is likely to be the highest demand. He also pointed out that alternatives to the VLR will always be considered such as bus routes.
Projects for the second phase of the transport strategy include major improvements at Tile Hill Station. These include a bus interchange at the railway station and additional car parking to the north of the station. In addition, there is a major project to improve the capacity of rail services between Leamington and Nuneaton. Actions include an additional platform at Coventry station and lengthening the platforms at Coventry Arena. Visitors to events at the stadium can then have a direct service to and from Coventry station.
One of the most thought-provoking elements of the talk was the longer-term innovative possibilities ie phase three of the transport strategy from 2032/33 to 2036/37. They include:
- Possible new rail stations at Binley / Willenhall and Coventry South
- Better rail connectivity with the East Midlands with direct services to Leicester and Nottingham via Nuneaton, along with impro
- Making use of drone technology for various activities such as road traffic monitoring as well as for the delivery of packages – Coventry is already a leader in this field.
More details of the Council’s transport strategy can be found at Transport strategy – Coventry City Council.