Public transport 1

Jon Hunt reports:
There are still fading posters in houses on the Walsall Road from 2003-4 when proposals to run the Metro up the road were first announced and created major opposition from residents adjoining the route (most of our ward).

A lot has happened since then but this week I think has seen a major development.

To recap: the original proposal, which Centro and the then City Council administration kept secret until the last minute was to run trams up to the Scott Arms with a view to creating a park and ride from the motorway.

Apart from the environmental impact on the Walsall Road, I quickly established that the plans would rapidly undermine local bus services. The Metro was only commercially viable if most bus passengers transferred to it. Our preferred alternative, which the city council finally agreed to support, was to end the Metro at Perry Barr so it could also pick up through passengers from Kingstanding, New Oscott and Sutton Coldfield.

However the Metro plan was never deleted from the maps or from the Local Transport Plan. What did happen was that the city council changed its priorities for Metro - putting in an A45 route to the Airport ahead of the Walsall Road. The practical impact has been there has been very very little prospect of the A34 route ever happening - and in fact the red route and bus showcase scheme has delivered massively improved bus services.

At a recent constituency committee meeting at Tower Hill Library I had a go at city planners who had yet again put the so-called Varsity Route into the Big City Plan. The reality is that the plan is unlikely ever to happen in anyone's lifetime.

However since I've been on the Passenger Transport Authority, since 2004, new thinking has permeated Centro.

So on Monday the PTA (now the Integrated Transport Authority) approved a draft of a new "Integrated Public Transport Prospectus" with some big changes proposed on the A34 plans.

This for the first time proposes to take "rapid transit" all the way to Walsall but with a big difference. What is proposed is bus rapid transit and/or Metro.

This I understand would mean taking Metro to Perry Barr - as always seemed sensible - and then building on the existing bus improvements to create new style fast bus services- bus rapid transit - to Walsall. Who knows it might even find a solution to the Scott Arms!

It is still a long, long way away, whatever happens, but this seems to me more in keeping with what the community wanted - fast bus access in both directions and a Metro serving the whole of north Birmingham at Perry Barr.

The Carnival

The last meeting of the ward committee heard that it is proposed that the Birmingham International Carnival be held in Perry Barr Park on August 2nd this year.

Ward councillors have asked in the past for better consultation about the event, which could be a great event but usually poses big organisational headaches and provokes a lot of complaints from local residents.

Karen Hamilton was able to attend the last meeting of the city council's planning group. However we were dismayed to learn that the carnival committee has stated it will not have a Perry Barr ward councillor on its committee.

Our inquiries suggest the event is by no means guaranteed. For a start the council has not agreed its grant and is unlikely to until it is satisfied the organisation of the carnival is up to scratch.

Secondly the carnival needs a specific licence from the licensing committee to operate. Last time it breached its noise limits big time and we had a lot of complaints from some roads. We would hope the committee would require cast iron guarantees that noise will be controlled ie by limiting the number of sound systems on site.

In general this should be a cause for celebration and could be a great community event. The carnival procession is always magnificent. So why do the ward councillors receive the news with dread? Because something always goes wrong.

In 2007 the Carnival was held on a blistering hot day and attracted record crowds. That put pressure on the local roads but in truth quite a few problems were caused by simple human error. Each time we work with the organisers to put these errors right - and each time something else happens!

Last time there were problems with parking, noise and non-delivery of resident passes.

Starting with noise, in the Perry Villa Estate this reached 85 decibels which is about 25dbs more than the acceptable limt. So we're pressing for two things this year; 1/ to move the funfair away from the built up side of the park 2/ to limit the sound systems to the two mainstages. We do not believe the private DJ systems that come with the Carnival are acceptable. Last time speakers were pointed across the valley and blasted the Beeches estate for a period of up to six hours causing a raft of complaints from families in Curbar Road and beyond.

2/ Parking. Something very simple went wrong last time. A parking area was designated in Perry Hall Park. Stewards turned up and found a cricket match being played on the area - in spite of the fact that we had asked organisers to check cricket was cancelled. The stewards didn't consult anyone and closed the car park, just as the roads were closed for the procession. Chaos!! There was in fact still plenty of space in the park but nobody had told the stewards they could use it. It was Jon Hunt who went down with department manager Kevin Brown and found out what had happened and got the car park reopened. But by that time hundreds of cars had parked in semi-legal locations around Perry Barr and Great Barr.

The truth is that getting previous problems sorted is relatively easy. Anticipating what will go wrong this time is much harder. For years weve been asking about the quality of stewarding - proper briefings and good communication could make a real difference, as could ensuring that officials pay attention when they are told about problems on the day.

Witton developments

A couple of developments in the Witton area ahead of our ward committee meeting on Monday (9th) which will be at Witton community centre at 7pm.

First planning permission has been given for a large housing development on the former Siemens site, by Tame Road and Brookvale Road. We've welcomed this as we want to bring this derelict site into use. The plans have been developed by Villa, the site owners, and of course it remains to be seen whether developers can be attracted.

The proposals look very attractive and would improve the environment around Witton station, creating riverside walks. The two issues are flooding and the loss of villa parking spaces. Everybody has been satisfied that the plans involve adequate flood defences and preparation.

In addition the revise Villa parking scheme is now bedding down after some months of confusion. This means that both householders and a limited number of their visitors can now park on match days in the residential areas - but fans cannot.

The second issue has been raised in the press today and that is the possible move of the wholesale markets to the IMI site off Brookvale Road. This would obviously be good for the local economy but we would want to look carefully at any plans as it would mean a significant increase in traffic on Brookvale Road.

Dog fouling

For years the pavements around Calshot School, Great Barr, have been blighted by regular deposits of dog mess.

This year we've agreed with the police and the environmental warden service to have a major drive to tackle this problem.

We've been building up the environmental warden service over the last six years - and one of the reasons the newly-elected Liberal Democrat councillors back in 2003 and 2004 were keen to hire wardens was because of this problem of fouling.

Any dog fouling is an environmental hazard. However to do it on the pavement by the gates of an infant school or a nursery is nothing less than a crime.

Most dog-owners are responsible. They carry dog-bags and trowels and pick up the mess. A minority are giving others a bad name.

So we are sorry to report that in spite of the campaign that has been launched the problem is getting no better. So far the police have circulated households in the area of the school and attached prominent signs to the school fences.

The Walsall Road police welcome calls and information about the problem. They can be contacted directly on 428 6140

One mother told Jon Hunt last night that she had challenged a dog-owner directly in sight of one of these signs over the last few days. The dog-owner declined to accept responsibility for the mess being created.

It's becoming clear the only answer to the problem will be prosecutions. Residents in one neighbouring road are complaining their verges have been turned into a canine convenience.

Dog-owners who persist in abusing the pavements and putting the health of children at risk need to be aware that both the neighbourhood police team and the warden service are committed to dealing with this problem - as are we!

Scenic in the snow

Here's some more pictures of the parks in the snow today with the sun out. A view of the moat at Perry Hall and the lake on the River Tame, with a swan centre stage.

Perry Barr Park Lake

And here's the lake at Perry Barr Park in the snow this afternoon.

Perry Hall Park in the snow

Here's Perry Hall Park in the snow this morning. Don't forget if your grit-bin's empty, contact the team and we'll ask highways to refill it. Keep safe!

Burglaries

Alarming news about burglaries at the ward committee on Monday night. The police have recorded some 13 more burglaries than last year. The problem is on the west side of the Walsall Road and also in Handsworth Wood.

Some arrests have been made but it has not solved the problem.

The burglars seem to be using the late afternoon when it is dark and people may not be back from work. So one tip: leave some lights on during the day if you are not going to get home until after dark. Also make sure all your doors and windows are securely locked and valuables not left visible.

Draining a park, BMX , mountain trails and skate-boarding

Ward committee last night approved the spending of some £20,000 to drain the playing field at Turnberry Park.

This is an exciting project which should lead to the creation of new football pitches and even organised teams for several thousand homes that adjoin this small park.

The park is tucked away alongside the M6 on the Booths Farm estate. Although it has a large flat area which has been used for sports in the summer, for much of the year this area is water-logged. Water flows down from the Great Barr hills and tries to drain away into the culvert that runs alongside the M6.

The money, allocated by the ward councillors from community chest, will pay for professional drainage. The Trehurst community centre can provide a base for organised football teams.

Over the last couple of months we have been running surveys round this neighbourhood and others affected by proposed developments. Support for this project has been overwhelming, approaching 100 per cent.

The committee also had an update about another exciting project - the creation of a new BMX track in Perry Barr Park.

Perry Barr has already been selected as the British entry to host the World BMX Championships in 2012 - just a few months before the Olympics in London. As it is close to the Olympics, Britain is very hopeful we will be successful.

 The new track will replace the old one, which sits just underneath the M6.
 
Alongside this project, we have been working with Oscott ward councillors to site a skate-board park by the BMX track. Again we have been asking local residents about this project - and responses have been 100 per cent positive.

The city's leisure department has further plans for the site. For by the BMX track is a wood. In fact until 15 years ago it was a tree nursery for the city but it was abandoned and became overgrown. It is now inaccessible.  It runs up to the banks of the motorway and the plans for the site now include creating tracks within these woods for mountain bikers.

All this will need to be linked to the wider park. The woods run up alongside the lake in the park and this will highlight the need to get the lake sorted out.

Karen Hamilton said: "This is all great news. These projects will help improve the environment of our area at the same time as providing activities for young people and children within Perry Barr."

Grit bins

A period of silence on this blog doesn't mean nothing's been happening on the ground! Sometimes it means the opposite...that we are too busy!!

The big freeze posed the usual set of problems. It may have been the coldest weather we have had for some time.

As every time, the big concern is: are the gritters out and do we have enough grit-bins.

As some people will remember about five years ago the council slashed the number of grit-bins, leaving some very hilly and tricky roads in Great Barr without bins. This was reversed following the change of administration in 2004 and over about three years new bins were placed. Even better they were placed in consultation with local people on sites where they were needed.

What's emerged this time are one or two new sites, especially on new roads, where bins could be provided. If you had a problem please let us know and we will see if there are any more bins to spare.

Also that people have forgotten how to use them - or that new residents are not familiar with them.

In some places they were under-used. In others they ran out quickly. If it happens again, and your road is icy, please help sprinkle some grit on it! And let somebody know if the bin empties.

St Basils SleepOUT

Friday 5th December saw another SleepOUT event for St Basils to raise money for young homeless people. Councillor Karen Hamilton took part for the third time sleeping rough in Birmingham city centre.

Rough sleepers are provided with a large cardboard box, a plastic bag and can bring sleeping bags and other items that will help.

Hundreds of people took part in the event creating a cardboard city for the night.

Some young people who had been helped by St Basils took part in a presentation that took place on the night and they explained how St Basils had helped them.

Karen said “I have taken part in the sleep out before but I was still surprised how cold it was. The weather has been especially cold over the last few days so I knew it was going to be difficult. I had several layers of clothing much more clothing than I have worn before but I was still freezing. I am so pleased that it didn’t rain”

She added “After struggling so much for one night I can’t imagine having to do this night after night. It wasn’t even a true experience as I knew I could go home to a hot bath and warm bed I can’t emphasise enough how important it is to support the work that St Basils is doing to prevent homelessness.”

To donate to St Basils contact the Fundraising Team, St Basils, Heath Mill Lane, Deritend, Birmingham B9 4AX Tel 0121 772 9614

Cleaning teams

We've highlighted the introduction of "ward based cleaning" on our current issue of Focus. This is great news and means that a dedicated cleaning squad is now based in the ward. They should be going up all those alleys that used to be neglected and getting rid of those weeds that used to grow unchecked.

The Holford Drive depot has supplied details of their schedule. This indicates which area of the ward they'll be in each day. In general the minisweeper should get round every road once a week. The list here includes a description of some of their activities...

The team has a regular supervisor in the ward and there is no reason why residents with particular concerns cannot approach him directly if you see him on his rounds.

Mondays - Tame Rd , Electric Av, Wyrley Rd and side Roads off. Brookvale
Rd, Amberley Road & the Yew Tree Estate - General Litter and Detritus
removal. The crew working with the Mini sweeper to clear as much of the
build up of detritus in the channels.

Tuesdays - Thornbridge Av and Roads off, Aldridge Rd - - General Litter /
Detritus removal - work starting to have an effect in these Roads

Wednesdays - Walsall Rd, Rocky Lane and side Roads off - General litter
/ Detritus removal - work carried out on the Walsall Rd drop kerbs to
remove build up of weeds and detritus.

Thursdays - Kingsdown Av, Dyas Av and Yateley Crescent - Emphasis on
weed removal and clearing detritus

Fridays - Booths Farm Rd & Perry Wood estate. - General litter /
detritus removal

Shop front cleaning is being carried out daily as well as responding to
calls for the removal of dumped rubbish.

Karen calls for e-petitions

Karen Hamilton spoke at the city council meeting this week to press for the introduction of e-petitions, that can be signed on-line. She revealed she has signed ten of these petitions in the last year!

Deputy leader Paul Tilsley told the council he was hoping to get them introduced in the near future. The city is likely to enable children and young people to set up and sign e-petitions as well as people of voting age.

Meanwhile Jon was a keynote speaker at the launch of the city's Young People's Parliament on Wednesday night. This will bring together children and teenagers from school councils, youth clubs and other organisations involving young people and will give the city's youth a strong voice - bearing in mind they don't get to vote but are often at the centre of local politics.

What do you think? Are e-petitions a good move?

Speedway meeting

We're going to turn over the next Perry Barr ward committee on Monday to a discussion of the latest planning application from the Brummies Speedway at the Perry Barr stadium.

As we understand, the Speedway mainly want permission to substitute Sunday races for Wednesday ones when they are rained off - as they frequently were during the summer.

However there continue to be complaints from several neighbourhoods where residents find the noise from the Speedway intrusive. Also from Birmingham City University, which says the Speedway interferes with its lecture theatre blocks.

Our position is that the Speedway could solve these problems by putting up strategic sound barriers. There is plenty of evidence that existing sound barriers and buildings have a big effect on damping noise.

We think this could deal with the differences between residents who are bothered by the noise and the many fans of Speedway who want it to continue.

Our view was reinforced during the last planning application.

Monday's meeting is on the 29th September at 7pm at the Methodist Church on Rocky Lane, Perry Barr.

This is the details of the latest application:
Variation of condition C4 of application N/03972/07/FUL to allow
replacement Sunday races in the event of rained off Good Friday and/or
Bank Holiday Sunday races; and variation of condition C6 to allow the
holding of a press and practice day on a Wednesday in March 2009
between 12.00 and 15.00 hours; and the holding of races in 2009 between
19.30 and 22.00 hours and the warming up of speedway bikes between
19.00 and 22.00 hours.

Ref: N/04323/08/FUL

More details on how you can respond to planning applications here.

Jon speaks on M6

Jon Hunt spoke on the problems of the M6 at the Liberal Democrat conference. Jon called for traffic to be reduced on the M6 through Perry Barr warning that it causes "noise, pollution, ill-health and gridlock".

The context was the vexed issue of road pricing. We'd opposed and helped stop the West Midlands scheme which would have seen tolls placed on the side roads running under the motorway in this ward. Jon said he's also opposed a national scheme fearing it would be expensive, inefficient and intrusive. However, he said, he was happy with the party's latest proposals which would reduce vehicle duty and fuel duty and instead place charges for access to the motorways and the trunk roads.

Karen's plea on fuel poverty

Karen Hamilton spoke about the fuel crisis at this month's City Council meeting - and its effect on those who find it hardest to pay their bills.

She called on fuel companies to “do the decent thing” and reduce gas and electric charges for people who use pre payment metres.

Currently 5.8 million people use pre payment meters – 3.6 million for electric and 2.2 million for gas.

“A large proportion of pre payment meter users do not know the extra charge they are paying for their gas and electric which, in some cases can be as high as £225 per year”.

“Based on an average combined fuel usage Powergen customers pay an additional 15.2% of £225 per year, taking the annual fuel bill to a massive £1,700. British Gas and Npower customers pay an additional 12.6% if they use pre payment meters”.

“It is simply not acceptable that the fuel companies can get away with charging more to customers who use pre payment meters”. Pre payment meters are generally used by people on low incomes and by people who are in fuel poverty.

Karen added: “The energy companies are taking advantage off those who can least afford to pay more for their gas and electric.

“The Government should recognise this fact and insist that people who use pre payment meters should pay the same rate for their gas and electric as their customers who pay by direct debit”.

Running a half-marathon

Ray Hassall writes: "Well holiday time's over for me and I am back in full swing again.
Training for the Half Marathon did not stop while I was on holiday and at least five times a week I went out to continue the build up for the big event on the 26th October. This is the first half marathon organized by the City Council and its been my ambition since I first became the Cabinet member looking after Sport in the City. No let up in the training meant that when I landed at 4am in the morning I was out by 7.15am for an hours walk/jog training session.

Many of you will be aware that the half marathon starts at Alexander
Stadium, there is still time for you to join in this big event but we also
have a need for helpers at the start to get things moving with over 7000
runners some coming from other countries. Many will appreciate the need
for a great deal of volunteers to help in all stages ie registration
helping out to distribute water to the runners along the route.

Can you help? If so please ring 464 2012 or email info@birminghamhalfmarathon.com

If you want to take part in the half-marathon, the hotline number to call is 0844 888 3883."

Environmental wardens

A few months ago we reported that the environmental warden job - that's been based in the ward for five years - has been saved.

However it's well known we're having a bit of a battle to keep the warden based in the ward.

The ward councillors have responded vigorously to a city consultation on the future of wardens.

What's happened is the city has found money from the Working Neighbourhoods Fund to continue employing all 40 environmental wardens in the city. Most, like ours, had been employed locally through the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund.

City managers came up with a plan to keep 20 wardens in a central team and place 20 in each constituency - that would be one shared per ward. The central team would do blitzes, which managers in regulatory services feel deliver their objectives.

But there's a big difference between being in a team and working on your own. And we've said this repeatedly. We think the wardens should be based one for each ward. They can be brought together in teams, locally or city-wide, when necessary.

A good warden working in the ward can take on board a problem and keep working at it, chipping away at it. Like the pub that sometime ago agreed to having recycled bins on its car park. But now it's got two problems - the car park being used for commuter parking and people dumping by the recycling bins. We need the warden to work on this.

Every neighbourhood is different. Ours has acres of land at the back of properties, used for access drives, and with no clear ownership. Most of it is now gated to prevent burglaries, dumping and anti-social behaviour. But it doesn't always stay clean and often there's local dumping.

Our wardens have worked with residents' groups on neighbourhood clean ups on the. They can coordinate the delivery of skips and make sure they are used for clean-ups, not for dumping household rubbish. They've also helped coordinate the installation of security gates over the last year.

Then there's the problem of dog fouling by a local school. It's been going on for years, on and off - there's something about the neighbourhood, perhaps because the school's on the way to a park. It's nasty when it happens and can pose a severe threat to the health of young children. It's also very illegal.

It's hard to catch people who do this and if residents or the school rings the city contact number when it happens, the response is far too slow. A locally based warden knows there's a problem and can organise, possibly with the police, a fast response.

As things stand the warden is with us until next April after we stepped in to prevent his removal to the city team. The same applies in neighbouring Oscott ward. We're hoping we will win this battle - but if not we have contingency plans!

Amazing school improvement!

Congratulations to Perry Beeches secondary school which achieved England's most dramatic improvement in its GCSE results this year!

Last year just 21 per cent of pupils gained five GCSEs, including English and Maths, at grade C or above. It led to the school repeatedly being targeted by the government as one of England's so-called "failing" schools and also a devastating Ofsted report.

This year that figure shot up to 51 per cent. That's an increase of 30 percentage points.

Perry Barr ward councillor Jon Hunt wasn't surprised at the result. As chair of the city's children and education scrutiny committee he's been taking a close interest in the school's progress.

Jon says: "I'd paid several visits to the school and the head Liam Nolan, deputy head and several pupils came to the scrutiny committee and several pupils came to give a presentation on their work in June.

"It was an impressive presentation - and these results now show that everything they said was justified.

"It also highlights the disgraceful way lists of so-called 'failing' schools were issued during the summer term by the Government just as pupils were sitting their exams."

In the press the school has stressed aspects such as hard work and discipline. But the school has pushed pupils hard. Most pupils sat some English GCSEs early last autumn. That meant that many had the crucial English exam under their belts by the time they came to sit more exams this year.

This is all good news for Perry Beeches which has traditionally been seen as one of the least successful local secondary schools.

And it has some other interesting implications.

For in Handsworth families have been complaining for some time they cannot get their children into Perry Beeches. And in July some information was compiled for the Perry Barr constituency committee on school admissions.

This showed that it was easier over the last year to get into Great Barr school (which is a much bigger school) than Perry Beeches if you lived in Handsworth. So people in Handsworth need to start applying to Great Barr rather than Perry Beeches.

For people in Perry Barr and Great Barr this means, that when applying for school places this autumn, they have an equal chance of getting access to Great Barr or Perry Beeches. And both schools now have respectable academic results - so there's going to be many families with a great deal of thinking to do about their school choices.

Turnberry Park walkabout

Yesterday a committee called the Perry Barr neighbourhood tasking group took a walk-about in Turnberry Park accompanied by Jon and Ray. The group brings together the police, councillors, council officers from various departments and community representatives. We also had with us some of the youth workers who operate from the Trehurst Centre and Pete Short the local parks manager. So, as you can see, it was quite a large group.

The police community support officers have undertaken a project which has suggested a number of small ways and big ways of improving the park. The police have special concerns about the safety of people who use the footpath from Trehurst Avenue to the main park - and the youth workers seemed to share a few of their concerns.

The parks department have already made a start on some of the simpler suggestions and it was good to see a big effort had been made to cut away the undergrowth on this footpath. They had also taken a digger in to clean the main drain, which sits between the playing field and the wooded area. One of the questions is how much it will take to drain the playing field so it could be got into use for football all the year round.

There are quite a few ideas in the plan, some more achievable than others, and once it has taken more shape it would be good to see it published for full consultation.

The party walked up to Cardington Avenue, where we met residents who want some more fencing to protect the back of their properties. One of the issues the NTG has resolved is that all future fencing around the park will be green and will, preferably, be reasonably attractive.

Other ideas being kicked around include:

• put some markings around the basketball hoop in the middle of the park and maybe add a second hoop;
• maybe also a kickabout wall in this area where footballs can kicked off;
• get some banners on the lampposts at the main Turnberry Road entrance - a simple way to let people know there is a park there. At the moment there's nothing to tell you - and for years people called this land by at least three different names!
• regular clean up teams around the wooded area;
• There's a question about whether it's worth putting more lighting on the footpaths. Two or three years ago we lit the main path across, known as Forger's Walk, but this was comparatively short compared with the long path to Trehurst;
• removing some of the barriers at the Trehurst entrance - while keeping it secure. The entrance here is forbidding and the barriers have had the perverse affect of providing a hang about area for young people, enabling them to jump on neighbours' garden walls;
• extend the toddlers playground just behind Turnberry Road.

We've done various consultations with residents in recent years about the future of this park and they have generally been positive about developing it. Some ideas cost more than others - but there are also possibilities for funding. For instance the planning permission for the development on Booths Lane requires funding to be put into this neighbourhood.

If you have ideas, please feel free to post them here!