New Planning Applications - 25 April 2007

C/02196/08/FUL - 83 Pool Farm Road
Erection of single storey side/rear extension to private home. Consultation ends 14 May.

C/02086/08/FUL - 49-51 Shirley Road, Acocks Green
Change of use of office to day care centre for adults with learning disabilities, access ramps and new car parking. This is just beside the newish blocks of flats on Shirley Road. The company, Knightsbridge Care Services, already have offices on Warwick Road and provide care for adults with a range of medical and learning-related conditions. The maximum capacity will be 40 users - planned to be from the local area - and up to 7 staff during weekdays, with the potential to open on Saturdays if the need arises. Consultation ends 16 May.

On all of these, you can comment by emailing planning.enquiries@birmingham.gov.uk. Further details on how to comment can be found on this page. Remember that only planning matters can be taken into account when decisions are made. Feel free to copy me in on any comments that you make. Information on planning classes can be found here.

Woodcock Lane - Flogging the Green Space

Woodcock Lane used to have a little patch of grass and trees by Warwick Road – much loved by elderly residents. I wrote about it first back in November last year on the other place.

The patch isn't big, but it has a little historical significance, as part of the avenue of trees leading up to Acocks Green House. The first picture shows it as it was last year. For a number of years, it has been open land, used by local residents as a public space - right beside it are a couple of blocks of flats and some low-rise housing, full of elderly residents, who valued that little amenity. Given that, you would think that the City Council - keen to encourage use of open space and to secure the future of a tiny part of the green lungs of our city - would carry out a little light landscaping so that residents might enjoy it even more.You would, of course, be wrong to think that, as our masters have decreed that all surplus land should be sold and that this parcel is surplus to their, if not our, requirements. Accordingly, a neighbour has bought the land and, after an attempt to fell the trees (stopped by Preservation Orders being slapped on them), he has now fenced the area off.

Way back in 2004, the Liberal Democrats promised to preserve green space in their manifesto.

Yet another promise broken.

Oh, incidentally, a far-right party has been shouting about this little bit of space. They've even claimed that the owner wants to erect a radio mast on the site to operate a radio station, which is complete rubbish. Just for the record, the local councillors helped local residents to slap tree preservation orders on the newly enclosed trees and I lodged a complaint with planning regarding the oversized fence.

Overheard on the campaign trail

Somewhere in Birmingham....

Local resident points out some on-street drug dealing to a Liberal Democrat councillor.

The response?

"Well, that's just the way it is, isn't it?"

Not so much soft on crime as feckless.

All stop for pedestrian crossings?

Residents around Gospel Lane are furious that the pedestrian crossing promised for that busy road hasn’t appeared – even though it was due to be installed last year and agreement has apparently been obtained from Solihull Council.

The only good news is that further traffic calming has been agreed for Gospel Lane.

The Liberals claim that a new crossing will shortly be installed in another deserving location on Fox Hollies Road in May or June. Residents are worried that this is just another pre-election promise from the Liberals that will be forgotten after May 1st.

Swimming drying up

Last year, I warned that cuts were on the way to Fox Hollies Leisure Centre – the Liberal councillors cut back opening hours at weekends and closed the centre on Bank Holidays, just the time to take your kids swimming.

So much for the 2004 manifesto promise from the Liberals to expand swimming opportunities.

£200,000 of broken promises

Red-faced Liberal councillors have admitted that Acocks Green will not receive £200,000 funding that they promised.

As part of the ‘dash for cash’ sell-off of council property, the former Churchill Club on the Warwick Road was sold. A local community group wanted to buy it, but were outbid by developers. Under pressure from residents, councillors promised that a quarter of the money raised would be ploughed back into Acocks Green, a promise extracted while the late Ken Hardeman was in charge of regeneration.

Now they admit that they will not keep their promise - even though another Liberal councillor masterminds the massive sell-off of council property across the city.

That £200,000 could have paid for desperately needed street lighting, additional graffiti cleaning or better youth services. Instead, it has been used elsewhere in the City – even as the councillors agreed big cuts in opening hours at Fox Hollies. Yet again, we’ve lost out because of these useless councillors.

New Planning Applications - 19 April

C/01913/08/FUL - 190a School Road, Hall Green
Change of use from retail (class use A1 - shops) to restaurant (class use A3 - restaurants/cafes). This lies within the School Road Conservation Area. Consultation ends on the 14 May.

C/01860/08/FUL - 1193-1199 Warwick Road
This is for the demolition of the old C&D Autos building and replacement with two shop units and two flats above, with car parking on the forecourt beside the estate agents - which will not be affected. Consultation ends on the 14 May.

C/01768/08/FUL - 7 The Mews, St Marys Close
Erection of disabled vehicle store to side of property. Consultation ends 9 May.

On all of these, you can comment by emailing planning.enquiries@birmingham.gov.uk. Further details on how to comment can be found on this page. Remember that only planning matters can be taken into account when decisions are made. Feel free to copy me in on any comments that you make. Information on planning classes can be found here.

Priorities

Even though the Liberal Democrat/Conservative council has slashed spending on our crumbling roads - leaving just £17,500 for each ward to spend on repairs and maintenance this year, it is good to see that they have managed to decorate Acocks Green with fresh double-yellow lines.

For the past four years, they've failed to progress a multi-billion pound Labour government initiative that would update every road, pavement and street light in the City.

Long time no post

Thing is, I have another blog, which is more of a political comment site than this. I intend to continue this site to cover issues specific to Acocks Green and Yardley. Sorry if I haven't posted as much as I should have here, but there's plenty to read over at PoliticalHackUK.

Safer pavements and safer roads

Following on from one of my campaigns to make our pavements safer, planters were placed on pavements in Westley Road last year. There are still problems with dangerous parking and safe access for the children at Acocks Green School and others. John wants to see School Zones set up across the ward. These inexpensive moves would help by:

· Lowering speed limits
· Banning vehicles stopping during school hours
· Installing clear warning signs and new road markings

This is the pavement at the Westley Road/Warwick Road junction, which is close to Acocks Green School. It used to be used as a car park by all and sundry, putting pupils and parents at risk on a daily basis, despite it being illegal to park on the pavement. Here, the shops still own some of their frontage, so cars can park there if the owners wish, but the paved area is council-owned footpath. After a campaign backed by local parents, we managed to get new bollards installed and a couple of heavy planters added to stop cars threatening pedestrians.

Apologies

I need to say sorry to the local readers. I've not posted as often as I should over the past few months. That doesn't mean that I've not been standing up for you in Constituency and Ward meetings, nor that the work has stopped.

As I pointed out last year, in Acocks Green, your Labour team is small, but dedicated. Sadly, we don't have the funding that councillors pick up (in excess of £40,000 between the three of them) and we don't have the backing of a millionaire MP either. Everything we do is run by volunteers, who have families and full-time jobs to do. There's precious little money from the Labour Party - we fund ourselves and scratch money from wherever we can.

This isn't an excuse, just a statement of fact. I think it does say something that so many people give up their time and effort to make a difference to their community. Thank you to all of my friends and colleagues who think that what we do is worthwhile.

More Cuts on the Way?

Last year, the Liberal Democrats cut pest control and we have one of the worst rat problems in the City. Indeed, Environmental Services submitted a bid to a recent Ward Advisory Board to try and fill the gap. As Neighbourhood Renewal Funds aren't supposed to support mainstream services, this was rejected, although I understand that other local wards have handed over the money.

This year, the efficiency savings cuts are threatening our swimming pools as part of a wider review of leisure services.

In 2004, the Liberal Democrat manifesto for Birmingham promised to ‘expand swimming opportunities’ - one of their many pledges that they forgot when they took control of the council. In 2007, under pressure from the Tories, options being considered to cut costs are a 12% cut in the opening hours of our local leisure centre and the partial closure of another local pool - Stechford Cascades. I don't think that either are satisfactory answers when we should be looking to expand involvement in sport. My wife and I do use these pools with the children fairly regularly.

In contrast, the Tory/Liberal Democrat council found £700,000 to spend on a Sutton Coldfield pool – including fitting air-conditioning to the café. Strange priorities.

Meanwhile, councillors in Acocks Green agreed to increase charges for sport by up to 30% and have backed an inflation-busting 5% increase in rent for council tenants.

Nothing like hitting the poorest the hardest, is there?

I have challenged these options at the Constituency Committee and will continue to do so. We don't need our services cut further.

Maths - the Liberal Democrat way

£37,000
Cut from the pest control budget in our district

£40,000
Cost of new Jaguar S-Class for Tory council leader

Why does Acocks Green lose out?

A recent leaflet from another party reported that the clean-up squad had tidied up two sites in Acocks Green this year. Other wards have had up to FORTY-SIX sites cleared in the same period. Why are we so badly served, again?

I had a look around the ward to see if some of the usual dumping sites have been cleared. They hadn’t. These pictures show sites on Gospel Lane, Knights Road and Haybrook Drive. I don’t have space for all the pictures of the rubbish ruining our ward. We deserve better in Acocks Green – this isn’t good enough.

Is it any surprise that we have one of the worst rat problems in the city? If you know of any sites that need a clean up, let me know.

The Battle of Francis Road (Round Two)

We won a little victory earlier in the year on this one, but the developer has come back for more as we head towards Christmas. He's revised his plan downwards to just 13 flats, but that doesn't change the core objections - this is just the wrong development in this location. The road can't handle the additional traffic and there are already objections in from the Fire Service. One of the residents told me that she recently had to call an ambulance for a neighbour and the paramedics had to reverse their vehicle all the way down the road. I've submitted another objection in support of the residents and have asked to attend the Planning Committee meeting if (and when) it is decided.

What a waste!

Residents in Acocks Green have been complaining about the rubbish left on the streets as a result of a badly planned recycling campaign devised by the Liberal Democrat/Tory council in Birmingham.

The plan was that every household would get a fortnightly collection of green garden waste during August and September. The rubbish collected would be composted for use in the city.

Unfortunately, many households didn’t know when the bags were being collected, so they were left piled up on the street, filled with rotting grass and leaves. The City Council refused to collect them before the official start date, meaning that some bags were left out for weeks. Even now, our streets are often littered with these green bags and many people don’t know that the collections will now only take place every four weeks.

“This council missed a great opportunity to collect green waste for composting and improve a dire record on recycling. Instead, they’ve left rubbish rotting on our streets.”

New lighting for Oxford Road

The tired old street lights are to be replaced in a £26,000 project, following on from the work done on Station Road and The Avenue earlier this year. The decision was taken at a recent Acocks Green Ward Committee. John spoke in support of the proposal and adds,

“I’ve had several complaints about the lights down Oxford Road, so I’m really pleased to support this. Residents and other road users will be safer as a result of this long overdue improvement.”

The lights are now being installed and some are already in use.

Meet the Minister

We were lucky enough to have Liam Byrne along to one of our recent meetings. I've got a lot of time for Liam - we stood together as council candidates in Yardley in 2004, but his political career has been rather more successful than mine. He was elected as MP for Hodge Hill in that autumn and won the seat with an enhanced majority last year. He's now a minister at the Home Office - one of the political hot seats with public focus on immigration and crime, but he's also a decent bloke. At an earlier meeting, Liam brought his kids along and they were (generally) well-behaved as he spoke to us about the health issues that were then part of his brief. He's also a cracking local MP, always ready to stand up for his electorate over issues like the Tesco development set to be built on playing fields in his constituency.

He took questions on a range of issues, including identity cards and immigration and even gave me a few minutes of his time afterwards to chat about campaigning.

A decent bloke and definitely one with a place reserved at the Cabinet table. Me? I'll settle for a seat on those benches in the Council House.

Ward Advisory Board

Another good meeting tonight, with the business run through in good time and in good humour.

The Ward Advisory Board consists of representatives from local groups in the ward - mostly residents' groups, but there are also political reps from the Tories and the Labour party, plus the three Liberal Democrat councillors, the police and the council team in the ward. The function is to discuss local issues and assess bids that come through for funding under the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund and Community Chest programmes.

I'm not going to go into detail about tonight's bids - they will be discussed at the next Ward Committee meeting in a couple of weeks - but I was a little disappointed at the quality of some of them. Too many bids that I've seen are scattergunned across the city in the hope of picking up some of the funding crumbs from each ward. Many bids are filled with current buzzwords, but that can come at the expense of details of what their plan entails and how it specifically relates to the ward. Give us a simply phrased proposal with clearly measurable targets and relate that to improving our ward and you have every chance of getting the money. Dress it up in flowery language in the hope that we won't spot the weaknesses or the lack of detail and you'll lose out. What's worse, if you don't get it right at this stage, the people of Acocks Green could lose out on a potentially effective project.

One thing I would like to see is greater involvement from local people in the decision-making process. There's a huge amount of experience and knowledge on the WAB, but the membership could do with a balance of younger people. How we get younger people involved in the process is the challenge. It may not be the most exciting thing in the world, but it is important and you get a chance to make a difference.

Successes and problems

As a member of the Acocks Green Ward Advisory Board, I was invited along to the opening of the new Fox Hollies Skate Park this weekend. This has been funded in part by Neighbourhood Renewal Fund money (thanks to the Labour Government) awarded through the Ward Advisory Board and Ward Committee, but largely thanks to a big donation from Sport England.

This is a much-needed facility for young people in the area and allied with the youth services pod across the road will be a major resource for a part of the community that hasn't had much positive focus over the years. We only seem to think of young people in terms of crime and anti-social behaviour - often forgetting that we were young once, although it does seem a lifetime away for me and I think I'm the youngest on the Ward Advisory Board.

Despite the many positives, there are problems. There have been reports of vandalism, drug-taking and other anti-social behaviour in the vicinity - not all of them down to the young users of the park, if truth be told. Part of this is unsurprising - if you give young people a central point to gather, you shouldn't be surprised if they then gather there and some disruptive behaviour is to be expected. That said, it needs to be policed. Some of this will come from the youth workers opposite and hopefully from the community that uses the site, but support will be needed from the Kings Heath police OCU - who haven't been excelling themselves in this particular area lately, thanks largely to the fact that this area is at the extreme end of their patch and they have been known to pass the buck to Solihull, who pass it back again. I've had a number of complaints from local residents about the lack of response on a number of issues - a complete contrast to the support I've had from the team working out of Acocks Green police station.

I've offered to assist and will ask our Labour MP, Roger Godsiff, to get in touch with the OCU commander and see if we can exert any pressure on the police that way. It would be a terrible shame for this great facility to be marred by low-level crime and misbehaviour.