Friday 20 March 2009

Bus routes 27, 76 and 85

Friday 20th March

Had another meeting with National Express about the problem bus routes of 27, 76 and 85. They have agreed that the 76 will turn around at Allens Croft Road/Vicarage Road, the 85 will go down Grove Road, Vicarage Road, Alcester Road South, Howard Road and Grove Road. They want to put the 27 back down All Saints Road and Abbots Road. I can imagine this will go down like a lead ballon with the residents.

I won't be doing any posts over the next week as I will be on holiday in Snowden, Wales, with my partner and daughter. We thought that we had better go now because her maternity leave will finish next month and holidays will be harder with two working parents.

Alcohol and Drug Conference

Thursday 19th March

Spent most of the day at Alcohol and Drug Conference, because in my role of Chairman of Local Services and Community Safety Overview and Scrutiny Committee we are looking at how the council and its partners can work together to combat these problems.

Wednesday 18 March 2009

Newark Grove Fence and School Visit

Wednesday 18th March

This morning Derek Johnson (our candidate at the local elections in 2010) & I have been to see some residents in Newark Grove (off Brandwood Park Road) about problems with youths causing anti-social behaviour around the entrance to the Dawberry Fields Park. The proposals that came forward are to landscape the area or have it fenced off. I will be pursuing this with the council.

In the afternoon I went to the opening of a new kitchen at Broad Meadow School, off Monyhull Hall Road. The children's choir sang songs about healthy eating. How things have changed from when I was at school.

Tuesday 17 March 2009

Druids Heath Housing Liaison Board

17th March

Been to the Druids Heath HLB meeting. This is for tenants and residents to discuss their views on housing and council related matters on the estate. The main issues of the meeting were re working with the probation service to help improve the estate, doing further estate clean up and looking at funding opportunities. Everyone at the meeting was very positive about improving the area that they live in.

Allens Croft Project

Monday 15th March

After being out of Birmingham all day I rushed back to attend the the board meeting of the Allens Croft Project. The main parts of the meeting were updating those present of the community activities that they do: dealing with domestic violence, working with older people and community clean up. They have received an award of approximately £100,000 from the National Lottery to help tidy up the area and help people tidy up their gardens and houses. This will hopefully give people greater pride in the area that they live in.

Sunday 15 March 2009

Druids Heath clean up

Sunday 15th March

I have been out on Druids Heath with Derek Johnson, our hard working candidate for the local elections in 2010. We have been out with residents and people from the Council tidying up litter, amongst other things, from Chinn Brook. I am never surprised at what you find - my discoveries today were a bike frame, basket ball and 6 bricks that were tied to a piece of rope. There were about 16 bags of rubbish that we filled at the last count. I hope that people will notice the difference and that we are trying to improve the area.

Broad Lane/Brandwood Park Road Trip Rail

Friday 13th March

Luckily I am not superstitious, as it's that day that some people dread: Friday 13th! It was just like any other day, trying to help residents address concerns that they have.

Been to see some residents about the trip rails that have gone up on Broad Lane/Brandwood Park Road. Parking on verges has been an on-going problem for many years.

Plans were draw up in consultation with residents following a site visit organised by myself, Cllr Neville Summerfield and Derek Johnson towards the end of last year.

I have had phone calls, emails and letters from residents thanking us for our efforts.

Traffic Lights Brandwood Road/Broad Lane

Thursday 12th March

I have been delivering some of the many leaflets that we send throughout the year. Today I've been delivering a leaflet about traffic lights improvments at Broad Lane/Brandwood Park Road. For a trial period, the alternate sequencing of the signals has been changed. There is now a separate traffic light sequence for those motorists on Brandwood Park Road and Broad Lane wishing to turn right. The changes do not appear to have adversely affected traffic flow, and feedback so far has been positive. I'd be interested to hear your views.

Wednesday 11 March 2009

Druids Heath State Walkabout/The Pathway

Spent most of the day on the ward dealing with residents' problems. Went on a walkabout with local residents on Druids Heath. A number of issues were identified, mainly around litter problems and graffiti - officers are going to address these. The Council has recently put huge resources into this problem, which has generated much positive feedback.

Next was a meeting organised by the Council over a problem on The Pathway in Allens Croft where an alleyway has had a build up of graffiti. The Council will be consulting with residents over how best to deal with this. The suggestion from the meeting was to have a mural that the residents would create themselves.