More Changes to New Street Station Project

Network Rail has given notice of changes to the original plans for the redevelopment of NewStreet Gateway station project.

This is the second change to the construction in the past few months as well as a postponement of the finish date. But this time the changes are structural and affect the cosmetics of the west side of the station ie that facing Navigation Street.

The original plans were for the raised footbridge spanning the tracks to be replaced and clad with stainless steal to match the rest of the station complex.

The new proposal is to retain the current footbridge virtually as is except for cleaning with the addition of a matching extension on the southern end.

The Birmingham Post has produced an article with images to illustrate the changes and is a good place to start to form your views on the changes.

Network rail describes the changes as a “minor material amendment” in its explanatory document:

Birmingham New Street Gateway

Minor Material Amendments to Western

Elevation

Design & Access Statement: Addendum

which you can view – click here.

Reading this document I find it hard enough to visualise what is meant by some of the changes but the revised planning application I find even worse, it being more complex – to view click the latter here.

Furthermore, we citizens, who are not connected with BCC Planning, do not have the benefit of demanding a guided tour to enable us to gain an understanding of the changes.

You can make your comments on the changes to both the Planning Department and the elected Planning Committee who are the decision makers on acceptance or rejection of the changes – to do this  click here and fill in the comments box half way down the displayed page – it’s simple enough to do.

Having submitted a comment you will be kept informed of happenings and given the opportunity to attend and even speak at the Planning Committee meeting which will decide on acceptance or rejection of the amended planning application.

To help and enlighten other readers about the implications of these changes, please leave a comment below.

Geoff Caine