Report - Acocks Green Ward Committee

A brief report on Wednesday's ward committee meeting.

I started with a brief tribute to Trevor Wagg, the late husband of former Cllr Penny Wagg and somebody who - despite our differing political views - was one of the keystones of our community and passed away suddenly a few weeks back. Our civic society is built on people like Trevor who are prepared to get involved and keep things running. He will be missed by his friends and family, but also by the wider Acocks Green and Yardley community.

We had a brief on the role of the local delivery group in the overall community safety and policing structure and the drive to cut crime, engage with young people and work to marginalise extremism of all sorts. You can find the full details here.

Our Environmental Health Officer had to send her apologies, but she sent a brief report. She's rolling out Street Litter Control Notices and has been dealing with properties on Spring Road and Westley Road, but will be dealing with the Yardley Road next. Members of the public raised a couple of issues about rubbish along the Yardley Road, which I'll be forwarding to the relevant council officers for action.

On planning applications, it was noted that the plans to demolish the Glynn Edwards Hall have been withdrawn at the last minute and there is no immediate prospect of a resubmission. We had a look at the current live planning applications, although we did not decide to object to any specific applications. We also noted that 2013/04742/PA, which was refused permission in August, is now the subject of a planning appeal.

Moving on to the community chest applications, almost all of the 2013-14 spending was finally allocated, with £2478 set aside to supply some new computer chairs for the library to replace the existing ones, which can best be described as "well-worn." These are the same chairs that were provided for the new South Yardley library, so should be good enough for us too! I also updated the meeting on the progress of the repairs, explaining that the delays have been caused by the amount of additional work to be done and the days lost to the weather (although we have been remarkably fortunate this autumn). Cllr Stacey pointed out that allowing for time lost affects the overall cost of a contract and there is a trade-off between risking time overruns and paying more upfront. These repairs look to be overrunning by about a month - which is rather better than the experience with South Yardley Library, which remained closed for well over a year for roof repairs.

We also agreed to allocate £1000 to the police project to secure homes against burglaries. We've had a rise across the ward and this is key in reducing fear and protecting people. We also approved a grant of £1200 to support the work of Fox Hollies Green Neighbourhood Forum.

One interesting issue was raised towards the end of the meeting - that of neighbourhood planning. We'll be inviting a council officer with experience of the Balsall Heath pilot to attend a future meeting to discuss it. It is an innovation of the current government, but it is not an easy option - neighbourhood plans have to comply with national and local planning policies and there's a lot of work to be done before it can be put to a referendum of the neighbourhood. Although the term "neighbourhood forum" is used in the government information, they aren't necessarily equivalent to the neighbourhood forums that we have in Birmingham - although the chances are that they would generally pass muster.

There was also a reminder that we are about to start the formal consultation on the 2014-15 budget. There are a number of meetings planned. Next week, there's one at South Yardley Library between 6pm and 8pm. on Wednesday 11 December.

Diary Date - Acocks Green Ward Committee

Acocks Green Ward Committee
Wednesday 3 December - 7pm
The Oaklands School, Dolphin Lane

Key items on the agenda:

• Community Safety Update
• Environmental Health Update
• Planning Applications
• Community Chest
• Grant to Fox Hollies Neighbourhood Forum 

Acocks Green Ward Committee Report

A surprisingly busy agenda to get through last week.

Acocks Green Conservation Area
There have been plans to establish another conservation area in Acocks Green for a number of years and it looks like it could be getting closer. A conservation area allows greater control over the look of a defined area, because it has special historical or architectural value. This is given weight when planning applications are decided and permitted development rights are also usually withdrawn, requiring the owner to seek planning permission (for which there is no charge). It doesn't mean that changes can't be made, rather that special consideration is given before they are approved.

We already have one around the Three Magpies on School Road, which is a fine example of a 1930s' pub and is surrounded by housing of the period. The area around Arden Road, Sherbourne Road and along the Yardley Road to the junction with Douglas Road represents the development of Acocks Green as a railway suburb of Birmingham in the period around the turn of the 19th/20th century (when it was still in Worcestershire).

Thanks to government cutbacks, Birmingham only has two conservation specialists remaining in our planning department and the city council isn't able to progress new proposals, so a local group have retained Joe Holyoak - a specialist - to progress the proposal to the point where the city council can take a decision. Hopefully, we should be able to go out to consultation early in the New Year with the local community and we could see a decision by the City Council cabinet by summer 2014.

Environmental Health Feedback
We had a brief from Kate Stanley, our ward EHO, where we talked about fly tipping, litter and whether we have the power to carry out enforcement action against the Canals and Rivers Trust.

Service Reviews
We're continuing to look at the services that the council offers, in the light of ongoing government cuts and we need your views. What should we stop doing? What should we prioritise? As a council, we have to live within the money provided by the government - raising council tax to fill the gap isn't an option. Your views inform this process, so that we can come back with a detailed budget proposal for 2014/15.

Find more details here. 

Planning Applications
Current applications were discussed and it was agreed that the committee would object to the new proposal for 20 Dudley Park Road (2013/07567/PA).

Acocks Green Neighbourhood Forum
The annual grant was approved for this local group, which is an excellent example of a residents' association in the ward - although it actually stretches over into South Yardley across to the east side of the canal.

Diary Date - Acocks Green Ward Committee

Acocks Green Ward Committee
Wednesday 23 October 2013 - 7pm
Fox Hollies Forum, Greenwood Avenue, Acocks Green

Key items on the agenda:

• Update on Conservation area
• Our conservation architect specialist will be attending
• Service Reviews
• A well managed and resilient city
• Developing a successful and inclusive economy
• Support services part II
• Developing successful and inclusive communities
• You can find out more about the service reviews in general here. 
• Environmental health update
• Planning Applications

Acocks Green Ward Committee - 6 Sept 2013

A quick report back on Wednesday's meeting.

We started with a report and a request for views on the discussion of future council services, in particular with regard to three specific service areas:

• Adults and Communities
• Education Services - this relates to the central administrative services for all schools, not to the schools themselves.
• Support Services Part I - Back office administrative functions of the council

While David Cameron and John Hemming tell us that we're only facing small reductions, in the real world, Birmingham City Council will have to slash our controllable spending by MORE than 50%. This will have devastating effects on the services that this council is able to provide - we've already got rid of 27% of our employees over the past few years. I think the message is getting through to people about the challenges that we are going to face over the coming years. 

If you would like to read the discussion papers and comment, you can find the details here. 

Unfortunately, our environmental health officer was on leave this week, so her report was held over. 

We then moved on to the controversial issue of the redevelopment plan for the Acocks Green Baptist Church on Yardley Road. The Stockfield Community Association and the Baptist Church want to demolish and replace the Glynn Edwards Hall with a new building. That is intended to have a range of meeting rooms, a training kitchen and community facilities and they will also repair the Arthur Moore Hall and bring that back into full use, as well as complete repair work on the church itself. The Arthur Moore and the church building are statutorily listed, but that Glynn Edwards Hall isn't. It is fair to say that there was a full exchange of views, but little meeting of minds. This will continue to be controversial - the planning application is about to be submitted and it will be interesting to see the final designs. It is a genuine strength of Acocks Green that we have so many people who care deeply about the area. 

On that note, we then ran through some other planning applications that are currently live - nothing was flagged as particularly controversial, although the proposals for the former Johnsons dry cleaning site came up for some discussion. 

We then considered some community chest projects, agreeing funding for 

• £1000 Laptops for the Friends Centre on Yardley Road 
• £1000 towards Acocks Green Christmas Lights, replacing the money previously provided from central City Council funding
• £3000 for the TUC Centre, which provides advice on social security applications and support to people in need. The service is provided by qualified advisors and in a range of languages. The centre receives funding from a number of wards, in relation to the number of clients from each ward. Most of the clients from Acocks Green are from the Yarnfield Estate.
• £6300 for the Tyseley & Greet Employment Resource Centre. This also offers advice and will support those who are struggling with the government's changes to the benefit system, as well as those in dire need or dealing with pay day lenders.  
• £1000 for Acocks Green Carers, to provide two events to give this local group a break over the festive season
• £1000 for Gospel Lane Allotments. The members are improving paths through the site and we're helping them with funding for equipment and materials.

After years where I don't remember seeing any petitions presented, we had not one, but two offered to us this week. One contains about 300 signatures asking for more litter collection along the Yardley Road and we had another of around 50 signatures asking for an end to cuts. 

Our next meeting will be 7pm, Wednesday 23 October 2013 at Fox Hollies Forum. 

Ward Committee Report

Last night's meeting saw us receive a briefing on Healthwatch Birmingham, a new voice for the patient in all forms of health and social care in the city.

We also agreed Community Chest funding for Fox Hollies Forum's summer programme and Millennium Green's public liability insurance premium. A £200 donation to the BID's defibrillator fund raising scheme is also likely to be approved, but in Cllr Stacey's absence and my declared interest as a director of the BID, Cllr Bowen wasn't able to approve it on the night. We were also told that Acocks Green School will be raising money towards the £1000 required to provide the public defibrillator.

We reviewed current planning applications, with objections to be submitted by the committee to proposals for a takeaway on Yardley Road - a proposal that has been previously rejected because of the lack of parking. We will also be objecting to proposals for a restaurant on the Warwick Road because of the impact on the building line and car parking. In both cases, local residents have made their concerns known to us. April's meeting saw us object to two schemes, one of which has been withdrawn by the applicant and one which has now been refused permission.

In administrative business, I was reappointed as ward committee chair and to the board of the BID and Cllr Stacey to Stockfield Community Association.  We also confirmed dates for meetings for the year ahead.

We should have the Baptist Church attending our next meeting to discuss their proposals for the Glynn Edwards Hall. Conveniently, we'll be meeting on the 4 September at the Baptist Church. Over the next month, we should also see consultation start on the Warwick Road Local Sustainable Transport Funding schemes - watch this space.

Our ward Environmental Health Officer also attended and promised increased focus on the Yardley Road and the Fox Hollies shopping centre, which have been the subject of concerns from residents over the volume of litter. She'll be focussing on making sure that all the businesses have commercial waste contracts and checking that people aren't using the litter bins to dump household waste that should be left for the bin men. She's also been making progress with Enterprise Inns, who have moved their wheeled bin from outside the empty Great Western pub. We've also asked them to remove the other litter bins at the front of the property and the concrete picnic tables. These, they are considering using to block parking on their forecourt, but the advice from the ward committee is that they find another way of doing it, as our view is that the tables will be moved. I've also asked our parking wardens to attend and deal with vehicles on the pavement, which are obstructing pedestrians.

Diary Date - Acocks Green Ward Committee 19 June

Acocks Green Ward Committee
Wednesday 19 June 2013 - 7pm
Scout Hut, behind Scanlon's Club, Spring Road

There's the usual administrative stuff (election of chair, setting out meeting dates for the year ahead, etc) and the key agenda items are:

• Election of chair
• External appointments - Stockfield Community Association and Acocks Green BID
• Dates of meetings for coming municipal year
• Presentation from Healthwatch
• Planning Applications
• Community Chest funding

If you can make it along, this is a chance to discuss key issues in the ward - we want to hear your views. 

Diary Date - Acocks Green Ward Committee - Wednesday 17 April 2013

Acocks Green Ward Committee
Wednesday 17 April 2013 - 7pm
The Oaklands Primary School, Dolphin Lane

Key items on the agenda:

• Community Chest Projects
• Wheelie Bin Consultation
• Environmental Health Update
• Meetings for the year ahead
• Other urgent business

Diary Date - Acocks Green Ward Committee

Acocks Green Ward Committee
Wednesday 20 February 2013 - 7pm
Severne Road J&I, Severne Road

Items on the agenda will be

• BSEEN - Promoting and supporting Birmingham Energy Savers
• Planning update - planning officer attending to discuss commercial planning considerations and other issues. 
• Planning matters
• Community Chest
• Local Housing
• Wheeled bins consultation update
• Other issues of local concern

Look forward to seeing you there!

Next meetings: 

17 April 2013 - The Oaklands Primary School

29 May 2013 - Scout Hut, behind Scanlons on Spring Road

Report - Acocks Green Ward Committee

A slightly chilly meeting on Wednesday evening...

We had an officer from Trading Standards attend to talk about No Cold Calling Zones. We've had three areas designated across the city - in Sheldon, Sparkhill/Hall Green and Stechford. The law doesn't allow the City Council to actually ban traders from calling door to door, but this is aimed at tackling rogue traders and reducing distraction burglary. Typically, this is where a caller at the door keeps the homeowner occupied while an accomplice steals from elsewhere in the property and the typical victim profile is an 82 year old woman living on her own. Far too often, rogue doorstep tradespeople are checking out the house for a later visit. Even buying something with cash at the door can reveal that you keep cash in the house, roughly where you keep it and - something I didn't know - that you have a large quantity of cash in one place. Apparently, the notes take on a particular smell if kept together. These zones are targetted on areas where a high number of distraction burglaries are reported and they act as a deterrent. Initially, Trading Standards officers provide a response to individual incidents and ask doorstep callers to stay away - and most comply - but after a while, experience shows that the zones become self-enforcing as residents themselves get the confidence to turn callers away and 95% feel safer with a zone in place. With budget cuts, there are no plans at this stage to bring a zone to Acocks Green, but we'll keep an eye on the situation.

The meetings were agreed for the remainder of the coming year:

• 5 December 2012 - 7:30pm - Lakey Lane Primary School (time accommodates police meeting at 7pm)
• 20 Feb 2013 - 7pm - Severne JI School
• 17 Apr 2013 - 7pm - The Oaklands Primary School
• 29 May 2013 - 7pm - Venue TBC

Community Chest spending continues. We agreed funding for:

Acocks Green Means Business - £4500

This is a project to help 250 local people to develop self-employment opportunities and, hopefully, deliver about 20 business starts with 2-3 months of workshops and one-to-one advice. This has been an effective scheme in the past and has actually been able to draw down further funding from elsewhere, reducing the commitment from the ward.

Acocks Green Library temporary provision - £26,000

We've used some unspent money allocated to the library earlier in the year, a little new revenue spending and a chunk of capital spending to deliver on this - Labour weren't prepared to see the library close temporarily without alternative provision. 

Project Worker, Gospel Oak Community Centre - £3408

Youth Group - Gospel Oak Community Centre - £2817.50

We're supporting this scheme jointly with Hall Green. Although the centre is just outside our boundary, it serves a large community within the Gospel estate and I've been down to visit the team there and meet some of the young people in the youth group and I was impressed by what the team are trying to do. 

We do still have some funding remaining for the year, but there is an alternative source of support through the Acocks Green Community First funding stream, which provides match funding for sums between £250 and £2500. Have a look at the website here. 

We've also agreed to continue funding for the Acocks Green Neighbourhood Forum.

Most of the planning applications mentioned in the agenda had already been decided, but we have an application for the land adjacent to the end of Grattidge Road at the Solihull side of the ward. This waste land is between the end of Grattidge Road and the back of what used to be a furniture store, but is now an indoor play area. There is already an existing planning approval on that entire site for redevelopment, but with the play area now in use, that looks unlikely to move to fruition, so the developer wants to build five detached houses on it. The councillors have heard different views on the matter - some residents are in favour, others opposed - if you have views, let me know. We also briefly discussed the flurry of applications for solid wall insulation on council property on the Yarnfield estate.

That largely wrapped up the meeting, although I will be writing a letter to express the community's concern about the ticket office closures that the government have now approved for many stations within London Midland's area, including all the stations that serve Acocks Green. The decision has been made, despite widespread opposition locally, but I will still express our dismay at this. I was also asked about progress on the Yardley Road issue.

With that all done and dusted, the meeting was closed and we'll reconvene in December. 

Diary Date - Acocks Green Ward Committee

Acocks Green Ward Committee
Wednesday 10 October 2012 7pm
Acocks Green Baptist Church, Alexander Road/Yardley Road

Items for the agenda:

• Trading Standards to attend to discuss no cold calling zones
• Community Chest applications
• Report back on Acocks Green Neighbourhood Forum
• Planning Applications

You can find the full details here. 

Public Protection Committee

Just to update readers. Following a decision by the cross-party Acocks Green Ward Committee, I attended Wednesday's session of the Public Protection committee to oppose proposals put forward by the police to designate the whole of Acocks Green ward as an area where they have the power to insist that people stop drinking alcohol in the street. The members felt that we would support these proposals on a targeted area where problems had been identified - such as the existing zone Shirley Road by the park, so it is not opposition to the idea, but to the breadth of the proposal.

I can report back that the police report has been deferred, as they failed to meet the standards of evidence required under the Act and their consultation was also not supported by evidence. There's a handy guide to Designated Public Place Orders here. I'd certainly be interested in any other views on this proposal - for or against.

Additionally, there was an interesting report from Trading Standards, who have led the fight against cowboy clampers in the city centre and have been imaginatively using their legal powers to prosecute, securing convictions and prison sentences for offenders and even seizing a ticket machine that was able to accept £2 coins, but would not register them. The officer present read a letter from a young mother, who returned with a young baby and a trolley full of shopping to her car to find it about to be lifted onto a truck just because she had parked with her bumper two inches across a poorly marked white line. It cost £350 for her to get the car back - an amount she had to pay in cash through the fence of a remote yard before they would release her vehicle. The good news is that from the 1st October, it will be illegal to clamp a vehicle on private land.

Acocks Green Ward Committee - 25 July 2012

A packed agenda, with one stand-out issue to discuss saw a decent turnout.

Much of the early items were fairly routine at the start of a new year - setting out the terms of reference for the committee, electing me as Ward Committee Chair and sorting out some external appointments - myself to the board of Acocks Green Business Improvement District and Cllr Stacey to the board of Stockfield Community Association. We also discussed the dates already set out for the year ahead, which should put the meeting in the alternate month to the District Committee, but current scheduling means that they are generally the day before. As the District Committee may well need rescheduling following tomorrow's Cabinet meeting, to allow for daytime scheduling in the Council House, then this will need looking at. I am aware that meeting scheduling is a major headache, not helped by the cuts to the Democratic Services team imposed by the budget from the last administration.

We then had a briefing from Les Williams, from Fleet and Waste Manasgement, who looks after this ward and several others, on issues around the collection of domestic and trade waste, recycling and green waste. This is a service that people only notice when it goes wrong and there are still problems resulting from the switch over to new round structures at the start of the year. In particular, the street cleaning rounds on some of the roads leading from Yardley Road (Malvern Road, Florence Road, Francis Road, Cottesbrooke Road and Elmdon Road) which are served by one of the smaller 'alley cat' collection trucks. The street cleaning should be aligned to follow on the day after the normal domestic waste collection, but there may still be occasions where this isn't happening. If it is - let me know.

We then had what was forecast to be the most controversial item of business - the Glynn Edwards Hall. I had this item of business added to the agenda specifically to allow discussion of a very controversial planning application prior to the meeting which happened last week, but it was a full exchange of views involving most of the members of the public present, which is exactly the point of the these meetings. Members of the Church and the Stockfield Community Association addressed the meeting and put their case, which had some very forceful arguments returned against it. This is an issue which understandably arouses strong emotions on both sides (although there are arguably more points of view than just two). 


It is certainly true that a community facility on the Stockfield estate is urgently needed and has been for some years. It is also true that the Arthur Moore Hall is in dire need of a good deal of work - the upstairs is blocked off as it is unsafe and the fabric downstairs has seen better days. The Church also claim that the maintenance costs of the building are becoming excessive and say that within a decade it could be virtually derelict.

I think it is fair to say that all three elected members of the Committee, Cllrs Bowen, Stacy and myself, find fairly common ground on the design proposed thus far - it is out of keeping with the rest of the street scene, with inappropriate use of materials, design lines and does not compliment the existing listed buildings. The work to those other buildings - the Church itself and the Arthur Moore Hall - is covered by an ecclesiastical exemption and falls outside the local authority's purview. I find my own views largely covered by a submission from English Heritage (of which I am an ordinary member)

English Heritage’s concerns in this respect relate to the massing, location and materials of the proposal.  While the scale of the proposal in the context of Alexander Road is generally satisfactory, the slate clad wing to Yardley Road appears too large and too close to the church.  Though apparently set further back from the Yardley Road frontage than the single storey entrance of the Edward Glynn Hall, the double height new building is set far enough forward to dominate views of the church and the Arthur Moore Hall.  The scale of the building does not seem to work well with the restrained contemporary domestic flavour of the gable.  This combination appears rather awkward, out-sized and relates poorly to the more decorative architectural aesthetic of the existing buildings on the site and adjacent. The resulting visual dominance of the proposal is compounded by the choice of contrasting materials; slate hanging and roofing on the wings and the large expanse of render on the corner unit.  The buildings in the application site and the vast majority of public and private buildings in the area are of brick under clay tile roofs, English Heritage is not convinced that the contrasting palette chosen for the new building is appropriate in this context.

Then we moved on to the Community Chest approvals, allocating further funding to local projects from our £100,000 of revenue spending:

• Acocks Green Gardening Project - £2000 
• Summer Reading Scheme - £3000
• Stockfield Youth Programme - £1700
• Fox Hollies Christmas Lights - £3000
• Special Street Collections - £3413
• Tyseley & Greet Employment Resource - £2888
• Learning Together - £1000
• Gospel Oak Green People - £975
• Blue Ink Saturday School - £850

The following were notified for information only - projects approved by the councillors through the Ward Advisory Board structure in May, but as the Ward Committee was delayed, I had these fast-tracked through the relevant Cabinet Member to ensure that the money was available urgently. 

• Arden Road Residents Association Jubilee Party - £151
• Acocks Green Carers Activities - £1000
• Acocks Green Crime Prevention - £489
• John Gayle Soccer Coaching - £5040

Finally, there was some more money allocated to local bids under our £25,000 of capital spending. 

• Gating Scheme - £4500
• Homemeadow House CCTV Scheme - £4544
• St Michael's Day Centre Equipment - £2760
• Ninestiles Cycling Project - £2560

A number of recent planning applications were discussed and we then moved on to the proposal from the local policing unit to designate the whole of Yardley constituency as an alcohol-free zone, allowing a police officer to ask anyone to stop consuming alcohol in a public area (not including beer gardens or other open-air areas that form part of currently licensed premises. Cllr Stacey and Cllr Bowen were both concerned about the power that this gives to an over-zealous police officer and it was felt that we would support an order made for more specific areas where problems have been reported, rather than a blanket ban across the entire ward. 

Finally, I had to announce the temporary closure of the library for about 12 weeks this autumn to allow for extensive repairs to the roof and the skylights. The building should be reopened in time for Christmas. 

With that, we closed a little later than the two hours planned - but future meetings should run closer to time. 

Diary Date - Ward Committee - Wed 25 July

Acocks Green Ward Committee
7pm - Acocks Green Library

Key items of interest (check the agenda below for full list):

• General update
• Update on ward refuse service
• Glynne Edwards Hall - Stockfield Community Association Presentation
• Community Chest
• Proposal to ban drinking alcohol in public across Yardley

This is a meeting where you get the chance to have your voice heard - these are key in the dialogue between the council and you. Please do come along. 

Full agenda and paperwork here.

Acocks Green Ward Committee - 7 March 2012

This week’s ward committee was a relatively quiet affair and also the last one before the elections in May.

On the agenda was a briefing from the Education team about plans to expand The Oaklands school to provide an additional primary class to cope with expected increase in demand from September 2013. They are working to a tight timetable, as construction work will be required to make the school fit for a modern, two form entry and this will need local consultation and planning permission. Cllr Stacey pointed out that the school governing body have yet to agree to this expansion and have only approved that the City Council study the feasibility at their own risk.

On planning, there was little of controversy. The original application to change the use of the former pub on the

Warwick Road

(just by the rail bridge) to a car dealership was turned down because the applicants failed to provide some additional technical details. These have now been provided in the form of another application. There was some discussion about the property to be constructed at the rear of 122 Westley Road and while there was some concern about this setting a precedent for other back gardens along the same strip, it was also pointed out that this might not be sufficient reason to block it in planning law terms.

The Community Chest spending was approved, as well as some continuation funds for the John Gayle football project, which has been a long term success in the ward and is currently looking for grant aid to provide ongoing support for a great scheme.

The only other thing was a note for future agenda to discuss access to the Leisure Centre from the public footpath between Fox Hollies Road and

Shirley Road

, which has been closed for some time now. This has been raised on Restirred and I will keep an eye on it. I can see no reason why access should not be restored – but this won’t come up until after the election in May.

As ever, watch this space.