Plans have been revealed for new one-way route at the University of Warwick, as part of a range of new strategies.

The so-called "campus service loop" will minimise traffic but keep access to key points, a draft masterplan states.

Parking is also set to be "progressively removed" from its central campus, the document adds.

If replaced the spaces will go at the edges of campus, though it claims that "essential" accessible parking will stay. Both moves aim to make the area more "pedestrian friendly" and focus activities in two main hubs.

Plans claim that congestion, speeding and parked cars create "hostile and severed streets" for those who are "walking, cycling, scooting and wheeling." "This undermines the campus experience through unsafe, poor quality, disconnected and non-inclusive spaces," it adds.

Cutting "non-essential" vehicle journeys here will give people using "sustainable" transport methods priority access, the scheme claims. And moving car parks over time will free up space for walkers and cyclists.

Use of university parking spaces has massively fallen since Covid according to statistics in the report. Beforehand, over 90% were full on weekdays in termtime but since the pandemic and a change in working the level is around 40%.

There has, however, also been major changes to parking fees via a move to daily charging, according to the plans. A pedestrian "high street" with "active" ground floors and "lively" public spaces is also envisioned to go in the main heart of the campus.

The 40-page draft planning document shows how the university will develop until 2033 including projects that are in progress, ones that are likely and strategies covering a range of topics. Coventry residents will be able to have their say on the so-called "masterplan" after the election next month, a meeting agreed yesterday (16 April). 

If the scheme is adopted by the council it will affect future decisions as plans deemed to be in line with the masterplan normally get the go-ahead.