National Express agree to restore 31 bus to Olton Boulevard

I am delighted to be able to report that National Express West Midlands have agreed to return the 31 bus to the route along Olton Boulevard East and Gospel Lane. Service 1 will continue along Pool Farm Road and Pollard Road.

Cllr Stewart Stacey, Cllr Jess Philips and I had a tremendous response to our petition - hundreds of people supported a return to the original route. We have had complaints from residents along Olton Boulevard, protesting the loss of any bus service and we have had complaints from Pool Farm Road about 12 buses an hour (one count saw 17 buses in an hour) travelling down that narrow road. I have even had complaints from businesses in the Village, who have reported a drop in footfall that they directly attribute to the loss of the bus service.

We consulted local residents a few weeks ago on an alternate plan put forward by NXWM to run all services along Dolphin Lane and Thornfield Road, but overwhelmingly, the response was in favour of the original route.

I met CENTRO and NXWM last week and we had a full discussion of all the issues around the route. The outcome was that NXWM have agreed to reverse their original decision.

The exact timetables have yet to be confirmed, but I expect a 20 minute daytime frequency on both routes once the services return on the 26th October. It is worth noting that the Service 1 only operates between the city centre and Acocks Green Village in the evenings.

The level of public support was crucial in persuading National Express to change their minds. so thank you to everyone for your backing - it gave real force to our arguments. Thanks are also due to CENTRO for their support and to NXWM for correcting their mistake.

The never ending list

Some kind soul decided to dump this at the end of the alleyway on Ninfield Road connecting to the Warwick Road. The bags contained roofing tiles, so I suspect that this is the result of a dodgy builder pulling into the car park and chucking waste out of the back of the van. I've had this cleared after it was raised by a local resident.

Also on the radar from last week - there's still work in progress to sort problems with an alley off Shirley Road. Following a resident's complaint, scaffolding on a council property on Gospel Farm Road has been removed.

A resident on Gospel Lane has raised concerns about a leaking sewer pipe, which he has been trying to get sorted for some time - that's now the subject of a formal s163 notice to Severn Trent, insisting that they deal with the problem within a few weeks.

The saga of the 31 bus route grumbles on. I've written to the respondents to our petition asking for feedback on the National Express proposal to remove the buses from Pool Farm Road and Pollard Road and run them down Thornfield Road instead. This doesn't restore the service to Olton Boulevard East and that's been a major concern of residents. I've fed the views of residents back through CENTRO, but further comments are always welcome.

Residents from Woodcock Lane had raised concerns about the "SLOW" markings becoming invisible and I've been on to Amey who will be repainting them.

I've also been chasing our Fleet and Waste team over a number of piles of flytipped green waste around the ward - chiefly on the Yarnfield and Gospel Estates. I'm pushing to have these removed.

Concerns continue about a property on Yardley Road, which has hedges overgrowing the footpath - that's still work in progress.