Amended plans for the Birmingham Road park shrink Lichfield bus station to five stops. Comments close 15 October; a decision is due in November.
Lichfield District Council has amended its plans for a new park between the city station and the city centre. The same application would cut Lichfield bus station down to a smaller loop, and the public has until 15 October to comment.
The amended plans went on the council’s planning register on 24 September, under reference 26/00399/FULM. The council is both the applicant and the planning authority. Its project page puts the planning decision in November 2026.
What the council wants to build
The site covers about 1.19 hectares between Birmingham Road and Frog Lane, according to the planning statement prepared by Savills for the council. It takes in the bus station, the Frog Lane car park and the lawn beside it.
The application includes:
- a linear park, about 23 metres wide, running from the Birmingham Road crossing opposite Lichfield City station up to the Baker’s Lane area
- trees, hedgerows, footpaths, seating and natural play features
- a smaller bus station, still entered and left from Birmingham Road, run as a one-way loop with a new entrance about 20 metres north-east of the current one
- the public toilets demolished and rebuilt on the north-east edge of the site
- the Frog Lane car park redrawn with 57 standard spaces and seven accessible bays, up from 48 and seven
- a construction compound on the middle of the current bus station, to serve a planned housing scheme on the corner of Birmingham Road and St John Street
The nine extra car park spaces are not a gain. The transport statement says they replace nine spaces lost from the District Council House car park, so there is no net change. The planning statement also calls the car park “temporary”, because the council’s longer-term aim is to build on that land too.
What changed in September
A covering letter from Savills, dated 22 September, lists the changes to the original March submission:
- the park is extended to the north-east, to connect with the public space around the new cinema at Baker’s Lane
- a replacement electricity substation goes in the north-west corner
- one extra bus stop is added on Birmingham Road itself, inside the public highway
- drainage and highways documents are updated
That extra stop brings the total to five, the letter says. The transport statement confirms the number of stops at the bus station will be “reduced to 5”. The rest of the current bus station becomes the compound.
The row over bus space
The bus station is where most of the objections are. The planning statement says the new layout “has been discussed with the bus providers and Staffordshire County Council”, and that they found it acceptable. The transport statement says there will be “no impact on the frequency or number of services”.
Objectors on the council’s register disagree. The chair of the Friends of Lichfield City Railway Station objected in May with counts taken by the group’s volunteers, who photographed the bus station at different times in March 2024. They counted between three and eight buses at once, and more than five on three of the eight visits.
A count of buses on the stand is not the same as a timetable, and the operators have not published their own view. But the counts are the only numbers on the register that test the claim of no impact.
Lichfield City Council, the parish council for the city, responded to the original plans in April. It welcomed the park as “a positive gateway” but said the bus station was “the area of greatest concern”. Its objections were:
- only four bus spaces, which it called insufficient
- a single narrow pedestrian way in at the north-east and no safe access from the south
- shelters too small for people with mobility aids or pushchairs
- no seating, signage, tourist information or adequate toilets
- no coach parking or coach drop-off
The city council also doubted the “temporary” label. It said the bus station was more realistically a 10 to 15-year arrangement, partly because of the disruption local government reorganisation is likely to bring.
Lichfield Civic Society called much of the scheme “unacceptable” in its own response. It argued the bus station was being shrunk to make room for an apartment building. Whittington Primary and Nursery School wrote in July that its school trips rely on the coach drop-off, which lets pupils reach the Garrick “without the need to cross busy roads”.
The amended plan adds the fifth stop on Birmingham Road. It still shows no coach bays. The photo above, taken in July 2026, shows the “COACHES” markings on the current bus station.
Heritage and trees
The council’s own conservation officer raised no objection in June, finding no harm to the Lichfield City Conservation Area and judging that the park met the Birmingham Road Site Design Code.
The arboricultural impact assessment of 7 September lists 52 trees on the site. It says two good-quality (category B) trees, three lower-quality trees and two groups of trees would be felled. The two category B trees are a Himalayan birch and a crab apple. New planting includes liquidambar and hornbeam.
Why the park is being built now
This is the first piece of the council’s Birmingham Road regeneration. The planning statement calls the park “the first phase” and says it should attract “further inward investment” into the rest of the site.
It is being planned alongside the conversion of the former Debenhams into an Everyman cinema. The council’s cinema project page says building work should finish by December 2026, with the cinema expected to open in 2027. The same page records that Full Council approved a further £5.56 million for the cinema scheme in July 2026.
What it means for you
- If you use the buses, the amended layout is the one to look at. The revised bus station drawing and the transport statement are both on the documents tab of the application.
- Comments close on 15 October 2026. That is the consultation expiry date on the register. You can comment online from the application page.
- The formal decision deadline is 23 December 2026, and the council expects to decide in November. The register does not yet say whether officers or the planning committee will decide it.
- Car parking at Frog Lane would rise from 55 to 64 spaces, but only because nine spaces move across from the District Council House car park. Our guide to parking in Lichfield has the current tariffs.
- For other live applications across the district, see our Lichfield planning news page.
Sources
- Lichfield District Council planning register, application 26/00399/FULM: the proposal, dates (received 25 March, validated 23 September, consultation expiry 15 October, determination deadline 23 December 2026) and applicant. From its documents tab: Savills cover letter L260922 (22 September 2026); Savills planning statement (March 2026); MEC Transport Statement 30029-TRAN-0801 Rev D; arboricultural impact assessment 260518 2238 AIA V1a (7 September 2026); Design and Access Statement Rev P03 (2 September 2026); consultee responses from Lichfield City Council (April 2026), Lichfield Civic Society (29 April 2026) and the district’s conservation officer (4 June 2026); and public comments, including the Friends of Lichfield City Railway Station counts and the Whittington Primary and Nursery School letter (16 July 2026).
- Lichfield District Council, Linear Park project page for the 23-metre width, the features and the November 2026 decision milestone.
- Lichfield District Council, Lichfield City Centre Cinema Development for the cinema timetable and the £5.56 million approved in July 2026.
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