Tag: Birmingham City Council

Residents take action on School Road traffic chaos

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There has been a long history of traffic problems on School Road, mainly caused by inconsiderate, often dangerous, drivers. It now looks as if some relief may be on the way for local residents.

In November 2016, local people set up a Facebook page to begin gathering evidence to present to Birmingham City Council (BCC). The aim was to get action to protect local residents, particularly pedestrians.

The area of greatest concern is the stretch from the roundabout near Kings Heath Primary School down School Road itself. There are frequent reports of cars mounting the pavement to pass other cars, even forcing pedestrians to get out of the way. In some cases, residents report that drivers ignore the presence of small children, so keen are they to get past as fast as they can.

Comments on the group’s Facebook page detailed incidents in which

  • a car mounted the pavement close to a mother and child walking home from school
  • another child was almost hit by a car on the pavement
  • a four-year-old on a scooter was within a metre of a car that had mounted the pavement
  • a woman was walking her child home and was abused by a driver because she objected to him driving his car at her and her child
  • a woman pushing a baby buggy on the footpath found three cars trying to get past her on the same footpath.

With the support of Councillor Claire Spencer and Councillor Lisa Trickett, the group has been putting pressure on BCC to find a long-term solution to the problems. In January 2017, residents were told that BCC was going to undertake a formal traffic survey on School Road. In addition, money had been set aside to try to come up with a solution to the problems. This was followed in March 2017 with news that a budget of up to £40,000 had been allocated.

Now a set of proposals is being put out for consultation. They will be sent to residents of School Road while anybody else who wishes to comment will be able to do so. It is understood that, at present, the proposal is to make School Road one-way from the roundabout near Kings Heath Primary School to Blenheim Road.

Councillor Spencer will be in the area of School Road on Sunday 25 June 2017 gathering information.

The School Road Traffic Issues Facebook page can be found here

Birmingham air quality survey

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Birmingham City Council (BCC) wants to know whether air quality is important to you. In order to find out what residents think, BCC have launched an online survey:

https://www.birminghambeheard.org.uk/economy/birmingham-air-quality/

The survey is already open but will close on 3 April 2017.

The questionnaire is reasonably short – it should take less than 10 minutes to complete but it’s important that as many residents as possible complete it.

Changes ahead for Kings Heath and Moseley schools?

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Seven local schools that are currently operated by Birmingham City Council (BCC) are considering forming a multi-academy trust. The schools in the group are:

  • Kings Heath Primary School
  • Park Hill Primary School
  • Wheelers Lane Primary School
  • Kings Heath Boys School
  • Queensbridge School
  • Swanshurst School
  • Wheelers Lane Technical College

All are reported as being rated ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ by OFSTED.

Love Brum Schools is an action group that is opposed to the plans. The group is not affiliated with any political party, nor to the Kings Heath Residents’ Forum but education is an extremely important subject for many residents. For that reason, the Residents’ Forum is publicising the group to make residents aware of the plans. The group’s website is lovebrumschools.com. Their site includes a frequently asked questions (FAQ) section that deals with many of the central issues.

This is clearly, and understandably, a very emotive subject and residents will undoubtedly want to know more about the pros and cons. Searching the web with a search term such as ‘academy schools pros and cons’ will produce a list of websites. Two that seem to provide relevant information are published by the National Union of Teachers (NUT) (pdf, 412kb) and specialist education publisher MA Education Ltd.

Great British Spring Clean - Heroes Wanted

Help needed for Great British Spring Clean

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If you’ve ever complained about the amount of litter around Kings Heath, now’s your chance to do something about it. Your help is needed as part of the Great British Spring Clean.

The idea – backed by Keep Britain Tidy (KBT) and Birmingham City Council – is for neighbours, friends or local community groups to get together and to do a Spring Clean in their neighbourhood.

It’s all happening over the weekend of 4 and 5 March 2017.

Read More »

Kings Heath library

Consultation on future of Birmingham libraries

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Posted by Kate Wilcox:

Birmingham City Council (BCC) has outlined plans for the future of Birmingham’s community libraries. The plan is now out for consultation and everybody has the chance to comment on it.

The key point is that all the city’s libraries have been classified in one of four tiers. Kings Heath library is in Tier 1.

The good news is that it is expected to remain open. It will also be open for the same number of hours each week as now.

Overall the proposals mean Kings Heath library will:

  • be open for 35 hours a week (the same as now)
  • remain in its current building
  • move towards more self-service systems (details are not yet known)
  • be used to deliver other services such as benefit verification

More details about the consultation are available at the following links:

If you want to have a say in the consultation, you have until 27 January 2017 to make your views known. You can do it in two ways:

If you have any interest in Kings Heath library it is important that you are part of this consultation. Please fill in the form and send it to BCC.

Photo credit: Kings Heath library by Tony Hisgett (CC BY 2.0)

Reporting blocked roadside drains

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Localised flooding can, sometimes, be caused by blocked storm drains, known as gullies. These are found at the edges of the city’s roads. We’re approaching the time of year when these are even more likely to be blocked because fallen leaves can build up across the gratings over gullies.

Now Birmingham City Council has introduced an online form so that local people can report blocked gullies. BCC wants reports to include ‘An accurate location (including landmarks, nearby house numbers or road junctions)’ as well as ‘A detailed description of the problem (e.g. blocked gully or missing grate)’.

If you want to report a blocked or damaged gully, visit the reporting form.

Obviously there is no guarantee that reporting a blocked gully will result in it being cleared. Indeed, the road layout in some places makes it almost impossible for surface water to drain away. If you report a flooding problem and it doesn’t get cleared, then the next step is to report it to your local councillors along with the reference number.