Birmingham launches 20 year plan to become "leading international city"
Plans would see the city ring road transformed into a "green way"
Last updated 16th May 2023
Birmingham City Council have launched a new 20 year plan to deliver unprecedented levels of new jobs, homes and green space.
Our Future City: Central Birmingham Framework 2040 would double the city’s green spaces to a level comparable with Vienna and double Birmingham’s network of active travel routes to 200km.
There is also the potential to create 74,000 new jobs – an 80 per cent increase on the city centre's current employment capacity, as well up to 35,000 new homes for Birmingham’s young and growing population.
The plans also include a change to the city's ring road, transforming it into a "green way," reducing reliance on cars and improving public transport options.
This framework also marks a major change from previous approaches to the city centre, with a clear intention to spread the benefits of development and investment into inner city areas, supporting access to infrastructure, jobs and improved public spaces.
This new plan is seen as critical in meeting some of the city’s major challenges including unemployment which is double the national average, the ten-year gap in life expectancy between the poorest and most affluent areas in the city and the fact that over 40 per cent of Birmingham’s children grow up in relative poverty.
Cllr Ian Ward, Leader of Birmingham City Council, said: Our Future City: Central Birmingham Framework will create a city that works for the people and communities of Birmingham.
“Like all great cities, Birmingham forever reinvents itself and our transformation is never-ending.
“Even so, our emergence in recent years underlines why I've labelled this a Golden Decade of opportunity for the businesses, people, and communities of Birmingham.
“There's a real buzz about Birmingham at the moment, a growing city of enormous potential and - as we showed to great effect last summer when hosting the Commonwealth Games - we're ready to fulfil that potential.
“Now this framework, the most important strategy for Birmingham this century, is set to supercharge our quest to be a leading international city.”