On 25 November the Kings Heath Neighbourhoods Forum held its Annual General Meeting at the Kings Heath Community Centre. We conducted all the usual business (treasurer’s report, minutes of last meeting, and chair’s report) swiftly and spent most of the evening on a presentation of recent developments in the City and the Ward. The presentation is included below. The evening was concluded with electing local resident James Knight onto the Management Committee.

On 10 June the Kings Heath Neighbourhoods Forum organised a Home Energy Saving Roadshow at the Hub Hazelwell. The overarching aim was to point residents towards non-commercial local organisations that can assist with the transition towards cleaner and cheaper home energy systems that also promise an increase in comfort.

The evening had three parts, a presentation by representatives from local organisations, a general Q/A session, and time for individual advice.

The presentations started with Tom Holness giving an overview of BrumEnergy, an umbrella organisation funded by various Government grants delivering free, independent, and high-quality home energy advice to Birmingham residents. 12 local organisations are contributing to this mission (of which three were represented at the event). Their website contains a wealth of advice and pointers to additional resources, but the main takeaway, perhaps, is their offer to provide a free personalised advice session.

Next up was Naomi Standen from ecobirmingham, talking about a range of simple measures that can help bring down energy bills, not just for owner occupiers but also for renters. Taken together, these “easy wins” can result in savings of over £500 annually in a typical household. A good starting point for reading up on this is this page on the BrumEnergy website.

Shaz Rahman from Community Energy Birmingham group spoke about more major interventions and upgrades that will keep your house warm, such as insulating walls. A major take-home message was to carefully plan the sequence of measures, such as improving insulation before changing a boiler for a heat pump.

The final presenter was Chris Martin from Footsteps who told us how he converted a neglected Bournville Village Trust property into a highly energy efficient home for himself and his wife. It was nice to see concretely what it means to upgrade a house and to appreciate an outcome that is not only efficient but also aesthetically pleasing:

Some additional points were raised in the general Q/A session, such as the need to consider ventilation in addition to insulation, the main message being to make ventilation something that can be controlled by the occupants according to need, rather than relying on uncontrolled drafts.

In the final part of the evening, people were able to speak to the presenters on an individual basis, getting advice on specific issues that affect their home situation. For this, the participating organisations had set up stalls and brought along additional staff and volunteers, with plenty of freebies on offer to encourage conversations. An additional stand was set up by Joanne Exeter from the Brandwood Center advertising support offered by Cadent (the company that maintains our gas distribution network).

All in all, this was an evening packed with interesting and useful information, inspiring us to take the first steps in our own homes towards a carbon-neutral future.

At its last AGM (19 October 2022) the residents present agreed to change the catchment area of the Forum to “cover the neighbourhoods within and that overlap with the Brandwood and Kings
Heath ward”. Consequently, it was also decided to change the name of the forum to “KINGS HEATH NEIGHBOURHOODS FORUM”.

The following were elected to the Forum’s Management Committee:

Achim Jung, Jon Jaffa, Howard Drury, Alan Jackson, Noel Kavanagh, Robert Kornreich, Spencer Lamb, Pat O’Brien, Jackie Smyth (stepped down 4 Jan 23), Lucy Hilliage, Tricia Winspur.