Last week in brief....

A surprisingly busy week last week, despite only a few meetings planned. Monday was the usual ploughing through emails and casework, but I also made contact with the fire service and the police regarding the series of fires affecting a building on Tyseley Lane. Fortunately, the damage was contained and, while worrying for residents, didn't affect any houses. Yardley School did remain closed for the remainder of the week to allow the safe removal of the remains of roof sheeting that had dropped into the grounds. Investigations are under way into what are believed to be three separate arson attacks and the police did release CCTV footage of a man that they would like to interview in relation to the incident.

What is clear is that this building was a specific target for arson - this is not a problem that should worry the community at large. Both the local fire service and police were clear on that.

On Tuesday, I was invited to be in the audience for the BBC Radio 5 Live debate on the Tory party conference at the Alexandra Theatre, a meeting regarding the Fox Hollies Forum and a home visit to look at a potential environmental health problem on Edenbridge Road in response to a resident's complaint. Wednesday saw a home visit to a disabled resident regarding a serious social care issue, a quick meeting in the Council House with Cllr Bore and Cllr Stacey and then a walk up and down the Warwick Road discussing Christmas Lights.

That's an important issue this year, as the planned works on the Warwick Road will be taking place at the same time as the scheduled display for the lights. It looks like we won't have any festive light displays on the into-city side (Aldi side only) from Dolphin Lane to Holy Souls Church, as those lighting columns are planned for replacement towards the end of the festive period. The displays not used there will be used elsewhere in the Village, though, so we won't lose out! I've also ensured that the traditional cross displayed on the column outside the Church will be kept in the same spot this year - work to that column will be delayed.

On Thursday, I had a performance review with the head teacher of Cottesbrooke Infants School, where I'm a governor and also found time to drop into Warwick House respite home on the Warwick Road, which is doing well. After that, there was time for some good old-fashioned door knocking in Acocks Green to canvass support and talk to residents about issues or problems that they have.

Friday started with a meeting down on Fox Hollies Park with the local Parks Manager, finalising plans to remove the disgusting pile of rubbish that's blocking the stream and we also talked about proposals to relieve the flooding around the bridge further up. I finished up the day with the usual Friday surgery and a catch up with Cllr Stacey.

Litter pick in Fox Hollies Park

On Saturday, I joined a group of Acocks Green residents of all ages who are set on forming a Friends of Fox Hollies Park group. 

Their first venture was a cleanup session and we had Lee from Waterside Care and Dan and Alec from the local police neighbourhood team join us. 

We only managed an hour in the sun and heat, but we put together quite a collection of bin bags.

If you'd like to join in future sessions, then please get in touch and I'll put you in contact with the organiser. 

This is how community organisations start - a handful of people committed enough to do something. Can you join in? 

Quad bikes and antisocial behaviour

I've heard a lot of complaints about anti-social use of quad bikes and off road bikes. These have been passed on to the local police, who have responded, despite their limited resources.

Sadly, due to service cuts, there aren't as many traffic officers trained to ride the off-road bikes, so there is a huge demand for their services. These are the team that can conduct pursuits safely across areas like Fox Hollies Park - there used to be a unit operating out of Stechford, but that was removed. Nevertheless, the police have put together a sufficiently persuasive bid that saw the bikes put to work in Acocks Green and they recovered the stolen bike in the next picture.

They have also been tackling quad bikers who are driving in an anti-social manner, particularly on the Gospel Estate. Two have so far been issued with s59 notices, which means if they are caught repeating the behaviour, the drivers will have the bikes removed and impounded. They then face a £250 recovery charge, plus £10 a day until the bike is collected by somebody insured to take it.

The police have also had helicopter support to deal with the problem - with the chopper even lifting on a number of occasions specifically to support operations against anti-social behaviour and vehicle theft in Acocks Green.

The problems haven't been fixed, but it is really good to hear that the police have been able to respond to the concerns raised.

They always need your support, so if you have any information that can help tackle this behaviour, you can always contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Get into your parks this summer! Active Parks spreads out across the city - Fox Hollies on the list

In 2013 Birmingham City Council launched a pilot programme in partnership with Birmingham Open Spaces Forum called the Active Parks Programme. The Active Parks pilot programme sought to demonstrate how much can be achieved by and for the health & well-being of local people in parks and open spaces. Working closely with Birmingham Open Spaces forum and Birmingham’s unique Friends of Parks Groups to create “Leisure Centres without Walls”, the programme to get people active and engaged in their local park was piloted in 5 Birmingham Parks, plus Edgbaston Reservoir. Activities took place in parks and green spaces giving people the opportunity to be active on their own doorstep and interact with the natural environment. They aimed to provide something for everyone including:

• YogaBugs, Buggyfit (mums and tots); 
• Park Fit and Community Fit (individuals and families, any fitness level);
• Tai Chi (popular with older participants but surprisingly, data has shown sessions popular with all ages from 3-79yr olds!) 
• Zumba (for all ages and abilities)
• Rowing and Cycling (for all ages and abilities, getting people who would otherwise not have the chance to try rowing, get out on the local reservoir with a programme of support)
• Walking and jogging (for all ages and abilities) 
• Non-traditional physical activities that get people engaging with their green space – Bushcraft, Little People in Parks (rangers linking with local early years settings to bring them into parks for various activities) 
• Volunteering – involving people in their local park and community has resulted in an increase in volunteering hours and an increase in social capital

We'll be expanding that programme this year and Coke Zero has agreed to support us as part of their commitment to invest £20m nationally by 2020 to encourage people to be more physically active. They'll be supporting 70 locations across the country and most of them will be in Birmingham. The multi-million investment will see Active Parks provided with hundreds of sessions of basketball, rush hockey, buggyfit and rounders - amongst other sports - with coaches, kit and equipment to promote activity outside during the summer months. 

Acocks Green isn't in the vanguard, but we should have activities up and running in Fox Hollies Park, the Stockfield Estate and Archbishop Ilsley in July at the latest. 

Fox Hollies Park in the rain

On Saturday, despite the rain, I joined some local volunteers and an advisor from Waterside Care (part of Britain in Bloom) to have another look at the state of Fox Hollies Park. Some bits need some serious attention - these two pictures show me looking like a drowned rat and gazing upon the collection of rubbish that appears to have been dumped by a local resident. That's too far from the road or path to have been dropped their by a passing fly-tipper, but just right to chuck over a fence. We'll have to get that cleared and I've already contacted the parks team to get them involved with it - it is too difficult for amateurs to have a go at that safely.

The walk also highlighted some potential areas for work and we'll have other agencies down there to try to work with the parks department and local volunteers to see what can be put together to help get the water flowing better under the bridges, which are clogged with rubbish and to stop the flooding that you can see below, making the path impassable at that point unless you want to get wet. I've also been in touch with Amey to find out what they intend to do about the light columns which have been completely wrecked along the footpath over the past few weeks.