CovSoc founder member, Paul Maddocks, continues his thinking about our public spaces, which might be coming less public. Paul writes…..
This is a follow up from the last article that I wrote about public open spaces that are privately owned (Should we be concerned about POPS?). Can I first say that in the countryside there are many public footpaths that criss-cross over fields and the landscape. They have been there for hundreds of years and if a farmer or developer puts a block across one of them the local public and Ramblers’ organisations are soon up-in-arms about it and the blockage is usually removed, sometimes taking longer than it should.
In Coventry city centre, there are similar footpaths that also criss-cross the city. After the Second World War, when the city centre was rebuilt, the city architects and planners set out to create new buildings and public spaces. These featured covered walkways that the public could use any time of day or night, to protect them from the elements. Protecting the public from rain, snow and even the heat of the sun. Although we didn’t know about global warming in those days, these covered walkways continue to protect us from extreme weather conditions.
These covered walkways were the main feature of the new traffic free Shopping Precinct. All the shops and offices in the area had them; Broadgate House, the Leofric Hotel, Owen Owens, Market Way and Smithford Street and the list goes on. They all have covered walkways.
Other buildings, such as the Belgrade Theatre, the Co-op and the Telegraph Offices, in Corporation Street, were specially designed to have the row of shops and offices set back from the street with columns supporting the building and providing a covered walkway along the street.
This means that people can easily travel from ‘A’ to “B’ in the shortest route without getting wet, but most of all they can linger to look in the shop windows and the glass would not have the glare of the sun on it. It would be giving shade and stopping the goods in the window being bleached by the sun or overheated.
But over the years some shops have started trading out the front of the shop and cafes. It starts first with a few tables and chairs for people so they can smoke while having a drink when the smoking ban came into force. The table and chair would get taken in each evening and can easily be moved about, so people could get past them, sometimes with a bit of a squeeze but still able to shelter under the covered walk way. But then portable screens on pole stands started to arrive to stop the wind blowing on the customers. This has escalated into large flower boxes which are left out all the time. This is both an obstacle to the walkers who wish to walk in a straight line along the row of shops and not have to weave in and out over the columns and into and out of the rain.
So, is this a ‘land grab’? Do they have permission to put these permanent structures outside their shops?
Well, it seems not and they do need planning permission to do this type of thing.
At this moment there is retrospective planning application going through the planning system – (see PL/2024/0001562/FUL). The planning application is for planters and tables to block the pedestrian walk way under the Corporation Street canopy, part of the Belgrade Theatre and retail area. It is Mychai Cafe, 59 Corporation Street, Coventry.
This is a problem and it is not the only one – it is happening all over the city especially under canopies. By putting large heavy planters like this they are “land grabbing”. Taking public space and using it for private commercial use. If one shop gets away with it, all the other shops will be doing it and people will lose this public walkway. What next? – the areas in front of shops being glazed with windows and doors? The Coventry Society, as a campaigning organisation, feel that we must object to this type of slow erosion of public access. We objected to this planning application and will do so for other applications like this.
Another erosion of public access is with the gradual destruction of open public spaces.
Recently the area just behind Coventry Cathedral, at the bottom of Priory Street and in front of the Britannia Hotel, has become a big concern! When it was built it was planted up with many trees and grassed island areas with nice Cotswold stone paving and paths around the area so people could walk through the area or sit on the many benches to enjoy this quite part of the city.
There were bollards all around the site. But over the past year or so, many of them have disappeared and the area has become a free for all car park.
The lovely Cotswold stone paving, which was never made to carry the weight of vehicles, is all braking up making the area a large trip hazard. Also, cars dripping oil and parking all over the place make walking through the area almost impossible.
The Coventry Society did try and find out who owns the site and who is responsible for maintaining it. Have they got planning permission for a change of use from a public open space into a car park? We could not get any clear answer although one council officer told us that he thought it belongs to the Coventry University. We got no reply from the councillors of St Michaels Ward.
The city council must be losing money on car parking with all this free parking! Who is going to fix all this mess and why is it not still a lovely open space for the public to use and enjoy?
