Birmingham needs more green space at its heart
About
CityPark4Brum
CityPark4Brum is a campaign group established in 2015 to lobby Birmingham City Council to create a new public park at Birmingham Smithfield. Originally part of the Greener Birmingham coalition, it has the support of the Birmingham Open Spaces Forum, the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham & the Black Country and Team4Nature. The park is also supported by proposers of the West Midlands National Park.
Birmingham Smithfield - an ideal location for a city park
Unlike many other major cities around the world, Birmingham does not have large areas of green space or parkland close to its centre. Its plentiful supply of parks is found mostly in its suburbs. However, back in 2015, a unique opportunity arose to change this - the former wholesale markets site, called Birmingham Smithfield, became available. Lying next to the Bullring and 5 minutes' walk from New Street and Moor Street stations, it was an ideal location for a signature green park that could radically transform the city centre. Furthermore, the site was large enough, being 17 hectares in size (42 acres, about the size of 28 football pitches), with most of it publicly owned.
Unfortunately, green & public open space was not the priority in Birmingham City Council's original plans for Smithfield, as shown in its 2016 Masterplan. Instead, most of the brownfield site was to be built on, with much of the open space located within private residential courtyards. A small park, included as a result of our initial campaign, was added but was simply too small and not transformative.
The latest plans that received outline planning permission in 2024 show a park that is just as small (smaller than Cathedral Square, AKA Pigeon Park) with green space disconnected and covering just 12% of the site. Compare this with Manchester's Mayfield development, where a park is the centrepiece attraction, and occupies 25% of the site.
But it's not too late - as our plans show, we at CityPark4Brum believe that there is still the opportunity for a larger & connected green park at the heart of Smithfield. The site can still include different buildings (e.g. those for homes, markets & businesses) as stipulated in the Masterplan, but also have more communal green and open space that can mitigate the effects of climate change and provide better adaptability for pop-up markets, festivals & events. And importantly, our campaign has the support of the public, with over 10,000 signatures on the petition when it was last submitted to the council.
The case for urban green space
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Parks improve physical & mental health
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Parks improve air quality & mitigate climate change (e.g. flooding & urban heat islands)
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Parks improve biodiversity
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Parks are inclusive, bringing communities together
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Parks provide sites for open-air events
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Parks and green space help the economy
Parks provide the lungs and fresh air for cities. They also improve our physical & mental health (saving the NHS £millions per year) and provide sites for festivals & community events (e.g. Birmingham Pride). Green space also helps the economy; a report on parks in London (see link below) revealed that every £1 spent on public green space equates to £27 in value for the public.
Now it's Birmingham's turn. We have a unique chance to transform the city centre and produce a legacy for generations to come. And the evidence for green space intervention is mounting - the City of Nature plan, recently approved by BCC, shows Smithfield in a so-called "red ward" where there is the least environmental justice. This means access to green space and trees is the lowest, urban heat islands exist leading increases in temperature of 3 degrees or more, there are higher levels of deprivation, and residents have worse health & wellbeing outcomes.
