We are continuing our trial of posting a summary version of the monthly committee meeting minutes. These are intended to provide a brief overview of the issues, discussions and ongoing actions related to topics we believe are of most interest to the community. For clarity, as not everyone will know who individual people are, in these summaries we refer to everyone by their role/position, with the exception of the two councillors.

KINGS HEATH NEIGHBOURHOODS FORUM 

Abridged Summary of Minutes 

8th July 2026 (7pm at Whitesmith Croft, Silver Street) 

• Work continued to strengthen ties and coordination with other local Forums. 
• The Forum ran a stall at the Brandwood Bash on 20 June. Represented by Chair and Secretary at “Great Get Together Street Party” in All Saints Square on 27 June.
• A committee member shared information and analysis with Councillor Jordan about drainage problems on the High Street which will be shared as a case study within Council about the need for a more coordinated approach between departments to tackle issues.
• Councillors will pass on a suggestion made that immediately before resuming recycling collections, there is a one-off amnesty where existing recycling bins are emptied as if they were regular rubbish bins. Forum agreed to liaise with council and councillors about the implementation of new rubbish collection scheme to make sure there is clear information and to consider hosting a public meeting about the new system when implementation date is known

Anti-Social Behaviour and Crime

• An “all-out” day took place in early July, of intensive enforcement action on and around Kings Heath High Street organised by the Council’s Community Safety Partnership as part of anti-social behaviour awareness week. Across the day, there was strong representation from the police, BCC community safety enforcement, Trident Housing, transport police, waste enforcement, trading standards, traffic wardens and BCC housing, others too. Jordan has since asked for a similar event to take place in Brandwood in the future.
• A number of concerns were raised relating to antisocial behaviour on Vicarage Rd near All Saints Centre, particularly targeting the children’s home in Vicarage Road. There was some discussion about other incidents, including an incident where a pupil from a local secondary school was attacked in Kings Heath Park. There has also been a spate of break-ins to businesses up and down the High Street, for which the BID Manager is also dealing with the police. Queries were raised about how the police are addressing the issues on Vicarage Road and in other parts of the local area. Concern was raised about recent occurrences of anti-social behaviour and the scope for it to escalate during the school summer holidays.
• As the police work is not always visible, the BID Manager will be encouraging the police to be a little more communicative to local residents and businesses, to make people more aware that there is ongoing police activity and involvement. Councillors will attempt to find out details of any ongoing action being taken by the police and other parties to address anti-social behaviour locally.
• Jordan reported success in removing reported abandoned vehicles working with the Council’s Parking team. He is continuing to work with them on long-term abandoned vehicles in Brandwood.
• Councillor Hamzah said that taking effective action to tackle anti-social behaviour is one of his priorities. He arranged a meeting with the team from the children’s home, and will look into specific reports raised of ASB related to properties believed to be managed by the council. Hamzah suggested that the WM Police & Crime Panel could be useful in addressing anti-social behaviour.  Hamzah is also looking into how to improve opportunities for young people in the area. 
• The Forum will consider organising a focused meeting with councillors and (both local) police teams about anti-social behaviour – would need to concentrate on possible solutions, actions and accountability.

Mums for Lungs Guest

• Kirsten de Vos from Mums for Lungs (M4L) gave an invited talk to the meeting about their work campaigning for improvements in air quality. The group’s motivation is the risk to health from local air pollution – linked to many different health conditions, with the youngest and oldest at greatest risk. M4L aims to encourage shifts in behaviour by individuals including stopping non-essential woodburning, and to think carefully about every drive in a motor vehicle, if it is necessary and if there is a reasonable alternative. M4L are supportive of interventions such as School Streets and Birmingham’s Clean Air Zone (“CAZ”). M4L would also like to see people feeling safer to use non-motorised means of getting round Birmingham, such as walking, wheeling and cycling. 

Other local issues

• Hamzah has been working with members of both the Jewish and the Muslim communities, relating to access issues in Brandwood End Cemetery due to a fence erected by the Council. 
• Jordan reported on the Kings Heath Park Improvements Scheme consultation to determine how funding will be allocated. Jordan expects the Council will be in touch with him later in July. Additionally, many residents have raised concerns about the lack of toilet facilities available at the park on weekends. Jordan has found out there is no longer any resource in the park service to provide them but is meeting a more senior officer in City Operations to explore potential solutions.
• Jordan is continuing work started by David Barker to get more cycle stands on the High Street using leftover budget from the Environment and Transport Neighbourhoods Fund for 25/26. 
• A previous planning application to convert a vacant office to 6-bed HMO (Use Class C4) has been rejected. The Forum had submitted an objection on several grounds related to provision of facilities for tenants and building regulations.
• Concerns were raised about reliability of the train service on the Camp Hill line. There was also a query about a “Friends” organisation for Kings Heath railway station. 

● 9 September, 7pm: Committee meeting in Brandwood

We have been discussing in the committee for a while how to increasing visibility of the Forum activities, in order to increase transparency and engagements from the local community. While we decided it isn’t suitable to publish a copy of the full minutes and actions from every committee meeting, mainly because these will be too long and detailed for general sharing, and because we don’t want to publish the names of visitors, we believe it is useful to put out a shorter version of the main discussion and action points every month.

This is the first of our meeting summaries, and was the pilot/proof of concept for the committee to discuss. As such it is now a few months out of date. Ordinarily we approve our meeting minutes in advance of the subsequent meeting, so in future we hope to release a summary on the website around 1 month after the meeting.

KINGS HEATH NEIGHBOURHOODS FORUM
Management Committee Minutes
10th June 2026 (7pm at Brandwood Centre)

• Forum represented at the opening of the Community Cafe at the Brandwood Centre
• Chair met with Jordan and Hamzah after their election victory to discuss how the Forum would work with them.
• Continuing development of collaboration and support for Neighbourhood Forums in other wards across the city. Chair started discussions with people in Billesley about supporting them to establish a Forum there. Committee already liaising with Moseley and Stirchley Forums.
• New councillors both attended and discussed progress on forming a governing coalition including Hamzah’s cabinet appointment as deputy for Health and Social Care, and to the West Midlands Policing Scrutiny Panel. .
• Councillors explained they will be dividing ward case work between them on an issues basis linked to their existing expertise, below is a sample of issues. Any issues can be initially raised with either of them, this is just how they will allocate the work between them.

Hamzah Sheikh	Jordan Phillip
Planning applications (inc. HMOs)	Road safety measures and schemes
Adult social care	Fly tipping and litter
Housing (inc. social/council housing issues,  neighbour disputes etc)	Roads, street furniture defects (e.g.  potholes, failed lighting, flooding, uneven  pavement etc)
Schools/education support	Parking and congestion issues
Antisocial behaviour & young people	Green spaces and parks

• The councillors are planning to each hold two surgeries a month in the ward (4 total). Jordan has commenced his  programme of surgeries and Hamzah will be starting very soon. They have been familiarising themselves with how the Council works, to  prepare them for handling requests and queries from residents.
• There is no formal system for recording case work at the council. Each councillor manages their own and no requirement for former councillors to hand over live casework to new councillors. David Barker has contacted them to hand over some ongoing issues. If any local resident has outstanding case work with one of the former councillors, and aren’t already in contact with Jordan or Hamzah they suggested approaching them directly. 
• The councillors are planning to keep people informed about what  they’re doing by producing newsletters, to be hand-delivered to  residents’ homes
• Enjoy Kings Heath (BID) has received complaints from members of the public about the number of “pop-up” activities on the high street, including charity fund raisers, faith groups, commercial stands and buskers. They are seeking advice from other areas and bodies to understand the issue and relevant legislation, governance, etc.
• Enjoy Kings Heath informed of upcoming events: Queens Heath Pride on Sunday 21^st June. Cricket Roadshow on Sunday 28^th June. Community Centre is screening the England World Cup matches.
• Forum agreed to provide support for The Brandwood Bash run by Our Scene CIC on Saturday 20 June, 12-3pm in Dawberry Fields Park.
• Committee offered to provide information to Jordan relating to potential long-term drainage issues causing uneven pavement on the High St, which will be forwarded on.
• Sue from Kings Heath Community Kitchen highlighted the great work they are doing. Provides hot meals, support and company in the afternoons of the 2^nd and 4^th Sunday of each month. The Kitchen operates from the New  Life Baptist Church opposite Asda on Kings Heath High Street.
• Pat from Brandwood Centre highlighted the (new) community café at the Brandwood Centre was now open to the public Mondays to Fridays 8.30am to 12 noon.