KINGS HEATH NEIGHBOURHOODS FORUM 

Abridged Summary of Minutes

9th September 2026 (7pm at Brandwood Community Centre)

There was a good attendance at the meeting with nearly 30 people. Given widespread concerns about a rise in crime and anti-social behaviour this topic was prioritised. Due to the length and complexity of the discussions around this topic, the abridged minutes are a little longer this month.

Crime and anti-social behaviour

What has been happening?

• Matt, (Town Centre Manager for Enjoy Kings Heath BID), reported KH High Street affected by actions of a particular group of teenagers since late 2025, that have gone beyond ASB to criminality (e.g. assault, theft, mugging) Hamzah (local councillor), noted many incidents have been attributed by Police to actions of just two individuals, but a wider group are caught up or influenced by ongoing ASB.
• There has also been a visible increase in drug-dealing around Kings Heath High Street, especially on the side streets on the east side.

What have the councillors and the police been doing to address this behaviour?

• Hamzah explained Moseley and Kings Heath police (M&KHP) team (covering most of High St, North of Vicarage Rd junction) have been gathering information and formulating plans for dealing with the core group of offenders. One young person has been relocated from the area and another is facing court action. The sergeant for M&KHP has agreed to monthly meetings with the councillors. Hamzah had received less response from the Brandwood policing team, and he would continue to pursue this and aim for a similar monthly meeting. The councillors emphasised that they are having ongoing discussions with the police about how they allocate available resourcing.
• Both councillors and Matt are concerned the number of police officers allocated to the local area was inadequate. Hamzah had been pressing the West Midlands Police & Crime Commissioner (“PCC”) for more resources to be allocated to the local police teams. He understood that the PCC in turn was lobbying central government for an increase in police resource allocated to the West Midlands. The councillors are asking the two MPs (Al Carns and Tahir Ali) who cover the Brandwood & Kings Heath ward to support this lobbying.  
• Jordan (local councillor) has written and widely publicised a letter to the relevant police inspectors. This had sparked considerable media interest.

Topics of concern discussed at the meeting

• A widespread perception of a lack of feedback and/ or explanation from the police about action taken (or not taken) after crimes are reported. The apparent absence of action being taken by the police on some incidents, and a perception from victims of either no, or insufficient explanation why is causing bafflement and upset.
• The councillors said they’ve learnt in some cases this can be due to the non-intuitive way the police process cases; where the local team transfers a case to a specialist/regional police team for further action it will describe it as “closed (down)”, which (may) refer to its status within the local team as a task management item, rather than its status as a criminal investigation. Thus a case can be both “closed” and an active/”open” investigation for different parts of the police. 
• Communication shortcomings, both in volume and specificity by the police mean they sometimes undersell what they’re actually doing. The response from the police to the media coverage only said they were busy working on the issue. This contributes to a perception there is little enforcement taking place. There was a widespread desire/request for the police to tell people more about what’s going on, especially relevant local organisations like Enjoy Kings Heath.
• There is concern about resourcing to local police teams, whether the number of police officers is consistent, fair and appropriate at both the neighbourhood, city and regional level, when compared to other areas. As well as when we will see additional neighbourhood police resources promised in government announcements. In addition concerns over how local teams are using resources they have and whether enough of the on-duty officers at any given time are engaged in visible neighbourhood policing.
• They were concerned about the potential for young teenagers to be groomed into becoming involved with more serious crime.  They were also concerned about the negative impact on the community of the repeated instances of ASB and criminal behaviour and noted that the safety of the community is a key priority. 
• There are concerns from residents and councillors about criminal behaviour on roads on the east side of Kings Heath High Street, particularly visible/brazen drug dealing. With particular concerns relating to criminal activity regularly taking place around Mossfield Road, Hamzah had received quite a lot of reports about. He was aware that the police do patrol there, but he would like to see more. 
• There are concerns about housing associations and other landlords not doing enough to support vulnerable tenants, or to have processes for identifying emerging needs, such as to identify and provide better support for tenants who may be vulnerable to getting involved in drugs and other crime. This is a particular concern with a recent vigilante attack on a vulnerable tenant, and the July 2025 murder of a vulnerable drug-affected person on Springfield Road. Matt mentioned a multi-organisation enforcement day on the High St in July, an outcome of which was relevant authorities sharing information and coordinating on locations where cross-organisational intervention and enforcement is required.
• There were concerns where activity either falls short of the threshold for criminality, or encompasses issues outside of the direct police remit that these are not being appropriately tackled or enforced in a joined up way. Hamzah explained that when the police receive a crime report about a shop, if it looks to be in breach of trading standards rules, they refer onwards to Trading Standards enforcement. Hamzah said that complaints about council tenants can be lodged with the Council, which then has a process to follow.  The situation with exempt approved accommodation is more complex, but there are steps that can be taken. It was noted Kings Heath High Street (along with the centre of Moseley) is covered by a Public Space Protection Order (“PSPO”), which bans certain types of activity from public spaces.  At the full Council meeting on 14 July 2026, it was confirmed that no fixed penalty notices had yet been issued for breaches of that Order despite being in place for a number of years.  It could help if the Council put more effort into enforcing the PSPO.

What further steps should be taken?

• Achim (Chair) provided background about the way the Kings Heath Neighbourhoods’ Forum, the Enjoy Kings Heath BID, individual businesses and residents, local councillors, the Police & Crime Commissioner (“PCC”) and the two local police teams worked together in the first half of 2025 to tackle open drug dealing in All Saints Road.  This was effective, but highlights the scales and challenges of coordination that can be needed to tackle habitual issues.
• Action: Forum management committee, in discussion with councillors and BID to decide if a meeting with the PCC and others would be useful.
• Action: Forum management committee and others to publicise monthly meetings run by the two local neighbourhood police teams 
• Simon (committee) highlighted there is a need to address the fear and anxiety local residents feel about crime and ASB as well as addressing the incidents themselves. Pointing out crime statistics themselves are not usually what make people feel afraid or worried, and so greater reporting of statistics, prosecutions, etc from police or PCC may have limited impact on their own. Alongside police actions, we as a Forum and a community can think about how we can contribute to making things happen, which also make people feel safer. Suggestion forum could consider supporting the community setting up more in the way of coordinated Streetwatch groups. (Action: To discuss further at next Forum management committee meeting).  
• Councillors will push for the police to communicate more with the local community in meetings/engagement
• Action: Identified more could be done to help people who are vulnerable or being victimised into criminal activity.  The councillors agreed that this was important, not simply out of concern for the individuals concerned, but also as a way of tackling some of the root causes of crime. Councillors to push for more joined-up, multi-agency approaches to both vulnerable people and to people/ families with difficult background and behaviours.  The idea would be for better communication between social workers, GPs, housing providers, police, mental health teams, etc. 

Other matters:

Update on ward/neighbourhood organisation 

• A new team has been set up at Birmingham City Council, consisting of around 20 Local Partnership Officers (“LPOs”) covering all of Birmingham’s 69 wards, to support councillors and local community organisations.
• Darnell Richards, is new LPO for the Brandwood & Kings Heath, Stirchley, Billesley and Highters Heath wards. 
• Suze (formerly lead of Our Scene CIC and Brandwood Buzz) has been appointed to one of these roles, but not for our local area. Due to conflict of interest rules, she has to take a step back from Our Scene and the Brandwood Buzz cultural action area; these will continue with other people taking the lead
• LPOs will assist each councillor in their area to prepare a Ward List – a list of priorities for councillor allocated funding within the ward to influence how funding is spent. Ward Plans are being abolished and replaced by Ward Lists. LPOs will be able to help with coordinating local neighbourhood projects but will not have an active hands-on role in delivering them. 
• Jordan and Hamzah will be organising up to four Councillor-led ward forums a year, supported by Darnell as part of the Ward List process. Along with an online ward survey, currently open to residents. In the previous council term the former councillors here ran their ward forums to prepare the Ward Plan in conjunction with the Forum, so this will be a slight procedural change for residents.

Report from Councillors (Hamzah & Jordan)

• Jordan reported that Kings Heath Library will be part of a city-wide programme of renovations to improve sustainability and energy-efficiency, including installing a heat pump.

Updates on other community work and groups

• Teams of volunteers (Clean and Clink) have been painting over unauthorised graffiti on High St
• New local weekly podcast called Heath Talk highlighting positive things in Kings Heath. https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/chris-smith3/
• Kings Heath Community Centre is going well.  The Football World Cup watch events had about 1,000 people through the doors.  There’s also a community meal taking place there once a month, alongside both regular and one-off bookings.  
• Friends of Kings Heath Park would welcome more involvement/engagement in their activities. Forum will support this by inviting chair to future meeting.
• The Forum, along with Kings Heath Community Centre agreed to provide support for setting up a new local photographic society/club 

Friends of Kings Heath Station (“FOKHS”) (Alan)

• Since the opening of the new stations on the Camp Hill line there has been interest in local “friends” groups adopting the stations. An application for Moseley Village station has been rejected, but we understand the friends group are reapplying, and Pineapple Road station has been adopted by a group supported by the Dads Lane Community Association.
• FOKHS is a long running group set up to push for and then support the opening of the (new) train station. The original group has dwindled in size and in its current form is not able to take forward any proposals to adopt Kings Heath station.   
• The Forum has been supporting FOKHS by investigating if any other groups were looking into adopting the station (there are not), to gauge whether local residents favoured the idea of adoption (considerable local support), and to gauge interest in people either taking over FOKHS or setting up a new group to do so. One attendee volunteered to explore a group for adoption and the Forum will support by sending relevant information and facilitating links to other local contacts (Action).

Next meetings and events

14 October, 7pm: Committee meeting in Silver Street