The traffic lights junction at Wake Green Road and Yardley Wood Road has been flagged up to me numerous times as needing road safety improvements. There is no pedestrian phase on the lights, despite Moseley School being close by and it is notorious for collisions and red light jumping.
In April 2024 the campaign group Better Streets for Birmingham held a road safety protest at the junction, attended by residents and politicians after highlighting the amount of red light jumping and speeding.
The wider impact study into Moseley and Kings Heath Places for People (LTN) made recommendations for this junction: a review of signal times , update method of control to MOVA system to assist with congestion, install ASK (Advanced Stop Lines) and upgrade the lights to include a pedestrian phase at all four arms. See Page 20 of the report below.
The traffic lights have recently failed and temporary lights are in place. The communications manager at Kier (the company contracted by BCC to maintain highways infrastructure, including traffic lights) has confirmed to me:
Hi Councillor Knowles, Unfortunately the problem at this junction is that the cable has failed completely to the centre pole which links to another pole. Due to its age, the site had no pits or ducts to run a new cable through.  This site has been failing for several years and so we intend to replace the ducts and chambers in order to gain some stability for the site. As soon as we have a date for the works we will let you now, we’re currently in the process of obtaining quotes.
I wrote back to ask if this would be an opportunity to upgrade the traffic lights system as recommended in the report, however I was informed this would be a decision for BCC to make. So, I wrote to the Transport team and received this reply:
Dear Cllr Knowles,
Re: Traffic lights at YWR/WGR junction
In response to your query received on 29 October 2024Â about the junction of the B4217 Wake Green Road and Yardley Wood Road, please find suggested comments from the service area below:
The design of this junction is poor by modern standards, with its ageing signal infrastructure, significant over-provision of vehicular queuing capacity, narrow pavements and absent facilities for pedestrians, cyclists and wheelers. Regrettably, the layout has clearly evolved to prioritise the mass movement of motor vehicles above the needs of all other road users. Indeed, a junction like this would not look out of place on one of the city’s principal A-class thoroughfares.
Ideally, given the significant amount of space available here, the Council would look to redesign the junction to meet current standards, using the Healthy Streets Approach. The main issue would be assembling the scale of funding needed. This could cost well in excess of £600,000, given similar recent schemes. Even a like-for-like replacement of the signals only could cost in excess of £300,000 – but would deliver no wider benefit other than to maintain the junction in its current operational state, so would not represent good value for money.
Speaking candidly, the Council’s current funding situation is not favourable. In this context and at this point in time, I regret that I cannot see how the Council could bring a scheme forward here in the foreseeable future – unless as part of a wider strategic initiative, such as a bus corridor improvement scheme, for example. This issue will be recorded, and if a potential funding opportunity arises which might be appropriate for this location, Officers will be in touch with you and Cllr Jenkins to discuss.
I have now written back to both the council and Kier to ask if any of the recommendations of the report could be incorporated as part of the repair – however I am not hopeful.
It is helpful though that this site is on the radar and I will continue to look for opportunities to make it safer for all road users.
Councillors Izzy Knowles, Philip Mills & Moseley Liberal Democrats 