Keeping Southside Clean for Clean Air Day
For Clean Air Day 2026, Southside Business District wants to encourage businesses and visitors to think about the steps they could take to reduce air pollution, both within the District and across the city centre as a whole.
Poor air quality is the number one environmental health risk in the UK. It contributes to over 30,000 premature deaths each year. It can affect anyone, not just those with existing health conditions, and it can affect you even if you are inside a building.
However, it’s not just your health that poor air quality can impact. It can affect your business too. Poor air quality can cause a range of respiratory conditions, leading to increased levels of sickness absence. This can disrupt business operations and, most importantly, affect the wellbeing of staff.
In a busy city centre, what can one person or business do to make any kind of impact? One easy place to start is by considering how you and your colleagues get to work. The city centre is a major local, regional and national transport hub. Have you considered the following?
Travel by rail: Birmingham New Street and Birmingham Moor Street stations are only a few minutes’ walk from Southside, with trains serving destinations across the city and the wider region.
Travel by Metro: Town Hall is the closest Metro stop, with Southside just a few minutes’ walk downhill.
Travel by bus: Moor Street Queensway and Station Street are both a short walk from Southside. With over a dozen routes stopping on Colmore Row, just a 10-minute walk away, travelling by bus is an easy and cost-effective way to reach the city centre.
Travel by bike: The A38 and A34 have dedicated cycleways, with the Bristol Road route leading directly into the District.
Use Lime bikes and e-scooters: These convenient options for short journeys have docking stations across the city centre. With your first two rides free, why not give them a try?
Trams, rail services and bicycles are known for their low carbon impact. However, many buses in Birmingham now produce zero exhaust emissions, with a commitment for the entire fleet to achieve this status by 2030. With dedicated security staff and CCTV in place, safety is also a priority across all these modes of transport.
So, if you work in Southside, why not try taking a different route to work this week? If you employ staff, share this article with them. And if you’re visiting us, you may find that the easiest and most cost-effective way to get here is by public transport.