Mayor says 21-mile cycleway alongside HS2 route a ‘no-brainer’ for West Midlands

Andy Street has asked HS2 Ltd to keep haul tracks for path linking Birmingham and Coventry

Plans for a 21-mile cycleway linking Birmingham to Coventry alongside the HS2 line have been described as a “no-brainer” for health, wellbeing and economic growth in the region.

In a letter seen exclusively by the Guardian, Andy Street, the mayor of the West Midlands, wrote to the government-owned HS2 Ltd this week asking that it keeps haul roads and maintenance tracks alongside the rail route for conversion to a future cycleway, rather than dismantling them. Street said that he has the backing of all local authorities along the route to connect these paths with local roads, along with a plan to fund it, and said the plans will “maximise HS2’s benefits for the region”.