The Canopy is Coming Down, Thanks to Coventry People
Cllr Ken Taylor is pleased to announce that the Cathedral Lanes canopy built over the city's iconic statue of Lady Godiva and owned by St Martins Property Company will be removed over the next two weeks.
The removal comes less than a year since the massive consultation exercise held with Coventry people about the future of the city centre put the canopy top of the list of local peoples' pet hates in the city centre.
Councillor Ken Taylor Leader of Coventry City Council said,
"I am delighted that the canopy is coming down. I knew that people felt strongly about it, but when it came out as the thing that most people wanted to get rid of we knew that we had to pull out all of the stops make sure that it came down. Once the canopy and its supporting columns have been removed the whole area will then be spruced up and the Lady Godiva statue will be cleaned."
"This is a very important first step in what will be an exciting new era for our city centre and it's symbolic of how we plan to deliver real and lasting change in partnership with local people. Over the next 15 to 20 years we will be working with residents and traders every step of the way to ensure that we create a new and unique city centre that everyone can all be proud of."
Work to remove the canopy and the supporting structure will take about two weeks. Once that's done the two zebra crossings on either side, leading to NatWest and Primark, will be repainted, the seating will be repaired and repainted and new lighting will be installed. The Council will also look at resurfacing the road that acts as an uncontrolled crossing from Cathedral Lanes to Broadgate.
Access to Cathedral Lanes shopping centre will be maintained throughout the work. All of the work will be completed before Christmas and the Council plans to make sure that there is lots of activity.