Welcome to Perry Barr!

Welcome to Perry Barr! If you are coming for the Commonwealth Games, please just don't think of the Alexander Stadium as a venue to which you travel by shuttle bus.

Think of it as sitting in a living, breathing, established community. Unlike other Games, which tend to be held on brownfield sites, these Games are using a stadium that was built some time ago in a local park on the edge of Birmingham. It's now been rebuilt, bigger and better.

Take a look around our area. Amidst all the gloss, you may spot some of the problems that blight a large city such as Birmingham, flytipping, litter, uncollected bins.

You'll also see a green suburb, which last year residents voted to designate a "Garden Surburb." It was mostly built in the 1930s to provide homes and gardens for the working people of Birmingham, just like garden cities.

And it has two terrific parks. We are sorry that when you arrive at the Stadium you don't get a better taste of Perry Park. It's a shame that the coach park where you are delivered was once grassland used for community football. After (or before) your visit, cross the Walsall Road and walk five minutes down Perry Avenue to Perry Hall Park. There have been a few community events here for the Games, including the last stage of the baton relay this morning. Its community wildlife garden (behind the keeper's hut) was named the runner up community project in this year's first ever Barr in Bloom competition and is largely developed by a volunteer named Norman Ball.

The park has some amazing features, including the moat which once surrounded a large country house. Hopefully today the litter will have been picked out of the moat. 

  Welcome to Perry Barr and when you walk around the area give a smile and a thank you to local residents. They have put up with a great deal in the preparation for the Games because Perry Barr was not in any way a brownfield site. Very often city leaders failed to listen to their advice. You may indeed hear in some quarters grand talk about "regeneration". This applies to a small area of land near the station which used to be the home of Birmingham City University, which moved to the city centre.

We wish local people had been heeded more in the project. There was once some interesting and useful modernist, concrete structures here, close to the station (which was a monstrosity before its rebuilding) with grass and trees and real parkland. Sadly all you will see is a bit of artificial grass.

You can find out more about our activities as local councillors at our Facebook page. You may see how difficult holding a big event is for a local community, how the authorities struggle with their commitment to keep cars away and ended up ticketing and penalising the local people instead of protecting them from excess parking. So please don't drive here!

As local councillors, we are proud our community is at the centre of the Games and that we are welcoming the world here. Thousands of local residents have responded to an invitation to attend the dress rehearsal's for today's opening ceremony and have had a great time.

Barr in Bloom was held for the first time this year with funding from the Games and organised by the 3Bs (Beeches, Booths and Barr) Neighbourhood Planning Forum. It celebrated great local gardens and groups of people who work to keep our area great. The cupwinners were the Beeches Litterpickers who go out every Sunday morning picking up litter.

The presentation of the prizes was the first community event to be held at the stadium, earlier this month.

A week ago or so there was a carnival atmosphere at Perry Hall Park when school and dance groups gathered to celebrate the heritage of the Caribbean. And then there is this sculptured log you can find if you follow the wooded stream that links to the moat.

But do look around further. At Tower Hill, up the hill of the Walsall Road, you will find a new community garden, developed by local residents as part of Barr in Bloom. But you will also see the tumbledown local library which remains unregenerated and untouched by the so-called regeneration. So when you hear talk of Legacy and Regeneration, understand that there is new housing down the road but the existing community doesn't even get its library rebuilt. 

 
Have a great time at the Games! (We are sure you will) Get to know the local people. If it's sunny they will be out and about - although sadly not many will be in Perry Park, which appears to have been locked down for the Games. We heard a story of a famous athlete who visited the stadium and said: "You know I came here for years training and didn't even know there was a park here." We are hoping for and have been promised better after the Games, real investment in the park. We've been promised that the children's play facilities that were removed will be bigger and better. Alongside the local community, we will be holding the powers to be to account for this.

We have spoken about these things at the City Council. We'd have liked the Birmingham Commonwealth Games to be the start of a new era in which Games are undertaken as part of communities, are affordable to all countries and not just placed in self-contained, newly built Games Parks. The London Olympics ten years ago was amazing - but it shouldn't be the only way to do Games.

Cllrs Jon Hunt and Morriam Jan

Josh's Flyover campaign

Local campaigner Josh Bunting is working with Jon and Morriam on a new campaign to get the roadworks at Perry Barr stopped - to spare our area from gridlock this winter.

You can find the petition here:

 https://www.change.org/p/birmingham-city-council-halt-perry-barr-flyover-demolition

This is what the petition says:

The new development in Perry Barr is not now being used for the Commonwealth Games. In addition everyone is desperate to get back to work after the pandemic.

These are two big reasons for not going ahead with demolition of the Perry Barr Flyover this winter. Lane restrictions on the A34 and traffic lights at Birchfield Island are already caused gridlock, even before flyover demolition is attempted.

We call for work to be suspended on the Perry Barr Regeneration Project while an independent review is conducted of its costs, purpose and benefits. There is no urgency now that the project is not needed for the Commonwealth Games. Indeed the council should not risk having unfinished road schemes in 2022.

For the last two years the local community has been asking how traffic will move during demolition of the flyover - and even now the answer is just to find other routes. Perry Barr is a crucial bottleneck on the way into Birmingham and asking thousands of drivers to find other routes will simply gridlock the  inadequate local road network.

The review should examine the evidence of the impact of the project on crucial bus routes, such as the 997, and ask why better ways of delivering improvements have not been found.

Gerry Jerome standing for parliament

Gerry Jerome is to be the Liberal Democrat candidate for Perry Barr in the 12th December general election, it has been announced.

Gerry runs an IT business and lives in Birmingham. In his earlier life he was a Liberal Democrat councillor and knows all about standing up for local people.

Don't demolish the flyover!

Jon raised the alarm in June about proposals to demolish the Perry Barr flyover being considered as part of the work around the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

This would see a huge traffic light junction created at Perry Barr. Planners seem to think this is the simplest thing to do so solve the problems in this area. The problem is the work will cause huge traffic congestion and then afterwards all cars will queue in multiple lanes outside the new Perry Barr station. So then we would need another Clean Air Zone.

It would also cause huge upset just when good work is being done to build the athletes' village and rebuild the station.

So far more than 1,000 people have signed an on-line petition to keep the flyover. You can find it here:
https://www.change.org/p/mayor-of-the-west-midlands-andy-street-save-the-perry-barr-flyover

You will find more regular updates on our work on our Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/perrybarrfocusteam

Funeral of the late Ray Hassall

We can confirm the arrangements for Ray Hassall's funeral this Friday (12th May). The funeral is at Aston Parish Church, Witton Lane, Birmingham B6 6QA at 1230pm. The church is large - but we are expecting a few people so please be seated in good time. Aston Villa have kindly agreed to provide parking in the Holte End Car Park (turn right up Trinity Road, facing the church and then right into the car park). The wake will be at the Alexander Stadium. Doors will open at 1.45pm - with light refreshments served) and we are expecting the funeral cortege to arrive about 2.30pm following a private ceremony at the Perry Barr Crem. There is plenty of parking at the Stadium and there will be plenty of room to mingle, sit in silence and remember Ray or view photos of his life. All are welcome to the funeral and the stadium to give our Ray a great send-off!

 

Neighbourhood Plan

On Thursday March 10th the neighbourhood plan project for our area is being launched. 7pm at the Alexander Stadium.

The map shows the area that will be covered.

The project will last for about three years and will see local people drawing up planning rules for our area. At the end there will be a referendum for the whole community to approve it.

The steering group behind it, led by Cllr Jon Hunt, has come up with several themes.

These include:
tackling groundwater and flooding
our local centres - eg Tower Hilll, Thornbridge Avenue
local design
green spaces and open spaces
housing
employment

But first of all we need to give it a name and Thursday's meeting will vote on this!

Here is a Facebook poll we are running on the best name

Lodging a formal complaint when the council lets you down?

One of the results of the wheelie bin fiasco is that some residents have tried to use the council's complaints process to get their concerns deal with. One incident in particular led to Jon Hunt tabling the following written question...

CITY COUNCIL - 14 APRIL 2015

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE CHAIR FOR GOVERNANCE, RESOURCES AND CUSTOMER SERVICES OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE FROM COUNCILLOR JON HUNT

"Effective Complaints Process"

Question:

Dropped kerb delays

Quite a few residents have been affected by long delays in the drop kerb installation service. Some have paid large sums of money and waited for months for nothing to happen. Jon Hunt tabled a written question on this last week and got the following answer:

CITY COUNCIL - 14 APRIL 2015

WRITTEN QUESTION TO  THE CABINET MEMBER FOR DEVELOPMENT, TRANSPORT AND THE ECONOMY FROM COUNCILLOR JON HUNT

“What action is taken when no service is provided”

 Question:

Ward committee

This week's ward committee will be devoted to a discussion on what the £300,000 from the Booths Lane housing development should be spent on. The idea is to enhance local facilities (but we've got to share it with Oscott ward).

As a result the meeting is moving from its normal venue.

 Please note it will be on Thursday March 12th at 7pm at Beeches Evangelical Church, corner of Beeches Road/Thornbridge Avenue. 

Bring your ideas! 

We are mainly thinking of how Turnberry Park and the amenities at Trehurst Avenue can be improved.

Worried about wheelies?

Cllr Jon Hunt - wondering if they'll be making
 these residents have wheelie bins

Worried about wheelies? The officer in charge of the project Kevin Mitchell is coming to the ward committee next Thursday 22nd to answer questions. It's at Perry Hall Methodist Church, Rocky Lane at 7pm

We're putting more regular updates and bits of chat on our Facebook page so see if you can bookmark it or 'like' it: https://www.facebook.com/perrybarrfocusteam

Tower Hill question

B1

Jon Hunt tabled a question to Cabinet member Cllr Tahir Ali on Tuesday about the problems at the Tower Hill junction and the reason why a 30mph zone has been rejected here. The answer speaks for itself. There is no recognition that the measures taken have not stopped the illegal u-turns:

CITY COUNCIL – 16 SEPTEMBER 2014

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE CABINET MEMBER FOR DEVELOPMENT, TRANSPORT AND THE ECONOMY FROM COUNCILLOR JON HUNT

Road safety”

Question:

Could the Cabinet Member indicate if he has definitely ruled out consideration of a 30mph zone on the Walsall Road in the vicinity of Tower Hill, as requested in a residents’ petition of autumn 2012, noting the evidence of strong pedestrian use of the road at this point and that alternative attempts to tweak road safety at this junction seem to have proved counterproductive?

Answer:

Speed limits on all principal roads are reviewed periodically to determine the appropriate speed limit for traffic. This assessment includes analysis of various factors including measured speeds and accident history.

The A34 route along Walsall Road was assessed in 2011 as part of a city-wide review of speed limits. This particular length of Walsall Road around was assessed again this year following safety concerns being raised. On both occasions when weighed against the criteria governing the setting of speed limits, the professional assessment has been that 40mph is the appropriate speed limit. As part of the latter assessment, the view of West Midlands Police as the enforcement authority was sought and they agreed with the assessment.

The other changes recently made at the junction were primarily to prevent a specific safety issue where drivers were illegally u-turning and near misses were being reported on a pedestrian crossing as a result. Those changes remove that conflict and whilst I understand it may have resulted slight increases in traffic queuing in peak times for one particular manoeuvre (turning right in to Beeches Road), I believe in terms of pedestrian safety this has been a positive change.

Last posting on this topic - July

Swimming pool at scrutiny

Finally the swimming pool petition has had its day at committee - at the city council's districts and public engagement  scrutiny committee yesterday.

City head of sport Steve Hollinsworth tabled a report on the proposals for the pool and Cllr Jon Hunt, chair of Friends of Beeches Pool, explained the background and how the petition came to be, and asked a series of questions. Jon pointed out the pool had been built originally in Great Barr because of a public campaign - and that in fact it serves a large cachment area from Great Barr to Aston and including 18 schools.

There was also an impassioned speech from the floor from one of our campaigners Allan Ball, who stressed the lifesaving benefits of swimming.

Committee members stressed that a petition of 10,000 signatures should not be ignored and promised to keep an eye on future progress.

Steve explained that Beeches Pool would go into the "future framework contract" with a number of other pools, probably across the north of the city. A report confirming the contract is set to go to city cabinet later this month.

Under the deal, which is similar to the one in place in Harborne, contractors will have to provide minimum opening hours, maximum fees, full repairs and protection of clubs and their times.

 Jon Hunt asked four questions:

1/ There had been problems at Harborne with the swimming club and these partly centred on the right of the club to run its own learn to swim programmes.

2/ Was there a risk the pool could be moth-balled if the contractor decided the repair bill was too high or something happened requiring major repairs?

3/ Was there a risk the pool could be moth-balled if the contractor decided it could not make enough money?

4/ What would be done about involving the community, especially given the huge amount of good will revealed by the campaign to save the pool?

 Steve replied.

1/ Yes Harborne and the swimming club had not worked out. There are a series of meetings planned with the ASA and the clubs about future arrangements over the next few weeks. It appears they are looking for a deal on learn to swim meaning the pools themselves undertake the basic learn to swim - but at some point children can transfer to the swimming clubs for advanced coaching.

2/ The contractors are liable under the contract to keep the pools in good repair for the 15 years of the contract It was recognised there could be significant costs at Beeches and these were being offset by the new builds and other capital investment in the other pools in the area.

3/ Under the contract, the contractors would have to keep the pool open.

In response to 2 and 3, Steve said the contractors would face financial penalties if they decided they could no longer run a pool.

"They cannot withdraw from the site without our permission. It would be a significant contract change."

The council believes that private contractors are much better able to market facilities and encourage use than the council. 

4/ Steve promised future public involvement, saying that pools would have user groups and management boards.

There was also a contribution from Oscott councillor Keith Linnecor and some discussion about getting investment from "planning gain", for instance from the site of the former Booths Lane golf course.

You can watch the full discussion here:  http://bit.ly/1uAaB2u

More Flashbacks to the campaign last winter:

 

Karen Hamilton, Jon Hunt and Allan Ball

 on the first day of campaigning

Swimming pool campaign - official response

Breaking news: this is the report that will go to a scrutiny committee on the 2nd in response to our petition. It's mainly positive - seems like good news. Cllr Jon Hunt will be attending to speak for the campaign.

The report includes the following: "The specification includes: -
 Minimum opening hours
 The protection of clubs and their times
 Maximum fees and charges
 Full repairing lease."

And..

" The Leisure Framework is on target to deliver new packages of facilities by April 2015,
including the management of Beeches Pool, to provide the council with a sustainable
leisure service for the future.
In addition to the new builds it is anticipated that contractors will also invest in the existing
facility stock to make them more welcoming and cost effective to operate over the life of
the contract; resulting in an improved customer experience for residents."

What questions should be asked?

Beeches Pool Scrutiny report (This will give you the download for a pdf file from the city council website)

Tower Hill traffic lights

Vigil for victims of Tower Hill accident

Quite a few residents have complained about the removal of the right turn filter light at the Walsall Road/Beeches Road junction.

Jon Hunt met the engineers responsible at the site recently to explain the problems it has caused.

The removal was done following the campaign we led for improved safety at this junction (watch for new signs etc). The engineers say it will deter drivers from performing illegal u-turns because they have to be more cautious.

They say that drivers still have the same amount of time to do the right turn - as the southbound traffic is still stopped in the same way.

Unfortunately they failed to tell anyone what they proposed to do - especially the ward councillors. We had to put two and two together when the filter light mysteriously disappeared and let off a few "fireworks" to find out what was happening.

Following Jon's site meeting it was agreed that more time could be allowed for “right turning” here in the afternoon rush hour as southbound traffic on the Walsall Road is not heavy. But they will not agree to reinstate the filter light.

Following our campaign last year, the engineers have agreed there are problems caused by illegal u-turns and large numbers of pedestrians. But they have currently rejected our proposal for a 30mph zone. They’ve agreed a new speed camera would help but can’t guarantee when it will go in.

* Update. We've agreed that the engineers should come to the next ward committee meeting to hear residents' concerns and give a full briefing on the work at Tower Hill. This will be on Thursday September 17th at 7pm at Perry Hall Methodist Church, Rocky Lane.

Wireless music festival arrangements

By now most affected residents should have had access permits for next week's event in Perry Park (July 4-6th). These allow access to local roads and to parking.

Every household's getting two permits. If you need more you can go to the Alexander Stadium, with ID, and ask for extra.

If you are visiting Perry Barr for the event, welcome! We hope you have a great time. Please respect our neighbourhood and, if you are driving, please use the official car parks.

The festival comprises three separate days of events, with artists, such as Bruno Mars, Kanye West and Pharrell Williams performing in London and Birmingham over the weekend. There are now weekend camping facilities and camping will not be allowed in the local parks.

All local residents, including those not in the parking zones, should have received, on the Focus,by now the helpline number for the event. It is 0207 009 3410. Use the number if there are obstructions  or other problems. By all means let your local councillors know if there are problems and we will try to help if they do not seem to be sorted. Call 0121 240 9689 or email one of us.

There will be tow trucks around over the weekend to enforce parking restrictions. These will be primarily used when parked vehicles cause an obstruction.

The areas that will be barriered, allowing resident only access are, as follows:
Church Road
Cliveden Avenue
Roads off Perry Avenue (but not the Avenue itself)
Rocky Lane, Walsall Road end
Rocky Lane, junction with Baltimore and Coleraine Roads
Kingsdown Avenue
Perry Park Crescent
Fairview Avenue/Gainsborough Road
Tower Hill
Roads between Thornbridge Avenue and the park - ie Monsal Rd, Holmesfield Rd, Longstone Rd, Haddon Rd

Scrap the Garden Tax - top manifesto pledge

Karen Hamilton inspects some of the green waste left uncollected by the road side because it's in the wrong bags

 Here's our Liberal Democrat  manifesto for Birmingham.

Top of the list is to get rid of the so-called "garden tax", the £35 charge for collecting garden waste.

Its shambolic introduction has seen barely 10% of households signing up, queues for the waste depots and the streets littered with green bags. But even if it had ben managed well, it would lead to big cuts in recycling and large amounts of dumping.

There's a lot more here to do with jobs, education, housing, transport and how the public voice can better be heard in the council. There are new ideas for dealing with private landlords and scrap metal dealers.


Introduction
Cleaner streets and refuse collection
Devolution and neighbourhood working
Sport and leisure
A public voice
Public protection - landlords, pay day loans, scrap metal dealers
Regeneration, planning and transport
Jobs and education
Housing
Finance

Music Festival update

There's a public meeting about the music festival in Perry Park on Friday night (May 9th) at 7pm. It's in the Alexander Stadium in the Dennis Howell Suite.

The meeting is being held by the organisers of the event to talk through arrangements for managing the traffic with local residents. As in the past with major events there will be extensive "exclusion zones" and residents will get passes - but visitors will not be able to park in these exclusion zones or get into them.

The event is being held over three days from July 4th to July 6th by Livenation and features major names from the world of pop and dance including Bruno Mars, Kanye West, Pharrell Williams.

One of the problems we've had in the past with major events is stewarding and enforcement. The organisers say they are going to do this better - and bring experience from other cities.

Although the event is three days, each day has its own tickets and there will be no camping in the park.

The organisers have pledged to make substantial contributions to the community in return for inconveniencing us. One community group, directly affected by the event, has already had a £1,000 donation. We're looking at ideas such as new play facilities or doing some work to clean up the lake in Perry Park

As the photo shows, we've been letting residents know. More than 4,000 households will be affected and all have heard from us in the last week.

Tower Hill Safety Campaign Update

 It's nearly two years since a fatal accident killed one woman and nearly killed a pregnant woman too at the Tower Hill junction of Walsall Road. The driver involved was later jailed for dangerous driving.

The event shocked the community and although the incident was the fault of a reckless and irresponsible driver, it also highlighted some long-standing safety issues at this junction.

So we started by collecting a petition and submitting it to the council, calling specifically for a 30mph zone at this busy junction.

Then in collaboration with the local police and neighbourhood watches we set about gathering more evidence. We were joined in this work by the Child family, relatives of Sarah who died so awfully.

Over several sessions we counted:

• all the pedestrians using the unprotected crossing by the Co-op;
• all  the drivers performing illegal u-turns;
• all the drivers jumping red lights.

We proved that more people crossed the road using the unprotected crossing than the two pelican crossings - and that there were hundreds of them.

We proved that drivers were u-turning onto one of the pelican crossings, terrifying many residents.We even saw a trailer u-turned and swinging wildly towards the bus-stops by the Co-op.

This led to meetings with senior city engineers and the submission of our evidence. The council agreed to organise a professional study of the junction and to investigate "phasing" of the lights to allow an all-red pedestrian phase - giving people more time to cross by the Co-op.

Avril, in turn, continued to campaign and in the autumn organised a march of remembrance, which Jon and Karen were pleased to support (see photos)

Now the council's professional study has confirmed our findings. Pedestrians are at risk and u-turns pose a major hazard (Drivers can easily and safely u-turn south-bound by turning into Tower Hill. The same manoeuvre can be done north-bound although it is trickier).

There is a programme of works and investment agreed (we're awaiting the details) and the junction will be considered for speed cameras when the new digital ones start to be introduced. In addition a proper red phase will be introduced.

Our original petition called for a 30mph zone through Tower Hill and the petition response says there will be a review of the speed limit here.

That's the good news. We're waiting for a full site meeting with the engineers and some of what they propose has seemed baffling. For instance the right turn filter into Beeches Road has been removed. This has annoyed drivers but the engineers say it stops drivers feeling it is safe to u-turn south-bound.

So expect us to be back assessing the effects of the work.

Our last report on this:

http://perrybarrfocusteam.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/tower-hill-safety-campaign-update.html

From the response to the petition: