Tonight was the PACT meeting at Walker Hall, Ampton Road. Cllr Fergus Robinson was in attendance.
We are still waiting for a date for the first PACT meeting for the North Edgbaston/Waterworks Estate/Westfield Road area of the ward. Cllr Hutchings and I suggested the Clarendon Suites as a suitable meeting place for this meeting when we met with Sgt Richards a couple of weeks ago. It has good parking and is fairly central for the area concerned. We hope to get a date for the first meeting soon.
If you live in the Pershore Road area of Edgbaston ward, you may have seen notices warning of road closures on Sunday Sept 12th because of Sky Ride – and wondered what it’s all about.
British Cycling and BSkyB have formed a partnership with the aim of increasing participation in cycling in the UK from grassroots through to the British Elite team. 2010 is the second year of an ambitious programme to get 1 million more people cycling at least once a month by 2012. This year’s part of the plan includes the roll out of 6 city rides across the UK – and Birmingham is one of the cities which is hosting a Sky Ride.
The idea is that with roads closed off, people can enjoy cycling in a traffic free environment and it’s hoped that new, occasional and lapsed cyclists will take part.
It’s hoped the project will help motivate people to be more active, promoting a healthy lifestyle through increased participation in sport and physical activity.
For more information go to www.goskyride.com
A couple of weeks ago I blogged about the work being done to upgrade the Hollies Croft shopping centre (work paid for out of Edgbaston’s Ward funds). The plan was to put in some benches there, but residents in Hollies Croft decided they didn’t want them after all.
The benches have therefore been offered to other community groups in Edgbaston, and there was immediate interest. It looks as if they will be put in at the following locations: Roman Way, Underwood Close, Edgwood Court (2), the Benmore Estate and the Guinea Gardens.
The benches are due to be put in this week.
Earlier this summer I mentioned on this blog that Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospital Trust were inviting suggestions from members of the public on the name for their proposed new hospital which is to be built at Grove Lane, Smethwick and which will replace the current Sandwell Hospital, and City Hospital, Birmingham.
This week the Trust Board met and announced the shortlist of 4 names. They are: The Midlands Metropolitan Hospital, Birmingham and Black Country Hospital. Grove Lane Hospital and James Brindley Hospital. Trust Board members will decide between these four names at the end of October.
Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust nurses celebrate 60 years of the NHS with a display of nursing uniforms through the ages
Three of the short listed names refer to the location of the proposed new hospital, the fourth reflects that the fact that the Grove Lane site is where James Brindley (the engineer who built the canals) had his factory.
Other suggestions sent in included calling the new hospital after Florence Nightingale, Prince William and Frank Skinner. These suggestions have however been ruled out – and it’s one of the final four which will be the eventual name.
If you’vce received a roll of garden sacks from BCC recently, you’ll notice they’ve changed from green to clear. This is to assist collection staff to see the content – making sure that only green waste is being collected. (Anything else in the load will contaminate it.)
You can leave exactly the same waste in the new clear sacks as in the previous green ones. Please continue to leave the sacks open so they are easier to empty. If you still have green sacks left, then please use them up before going on to the new clear sacks.
Boards showing what to put in your different recycling containers
The new clear bags can be filled with grass, leaves, plants and weeds, hedge clippings, plus bush and tree prunings. If you have a a lot of large branches to get rid of, these should be tied and left beside the sacks.
The following should NOT be put into green or clear sacks – stones, soil, bricks, rubble, plastics, metal, chemics and treated wood, household or kitchen waste and large logs.
Japanese Knotweed must also NOT be put in green/clear sacks. If you live in Birmingham and want information on how to dispose of Japanese Knotweed properly, go to www.birmingham.gov.uk/parks or phone 0121-303-1112
In Birmingham, collected green garden waste is composted and made into a soil improver which is used in garden and community schemes across the city.
Yesterday saw evidence gathering sessions of two City Council Scrutiny Committees.
The Health and Adults O & S Committee (which I chair) is looking into the problem of delayed discharges from hospitals in the city. The Local Services O & S Committee (chaired by Edgbaston Councillor James Hutchings) is looking at the matter of the CCTV cameras which were put in to the Balsall Heath area (and some in Edgbaston Ward) earlier this summer.
Both reports are due to go to Full Council before the end of the year.
Congratulations to the Prime Minister and his wife Samantha (pictured in the Edgbaston constituency) on the birth of their new baby daughter!
Samantha Cameron who gave birth to a daughter today.
Details have been announced regarding the Pope’s planned visit to Edgbaston on September 19th. This will follow the huge open air mass at Cofton Park – where 70,000 people are expected. The Cofton Park site is close to the cemetery in Rednal where Cardinal Newman was buried.
The mass starts at 10.00am on Sunday September 19th and when it is finished, the Pope will make a private visit to The Oratory in Edgbaston. (The Oratory has an Edgbaston postal address, but politically it is in Ladywood ward and Ladywood Constituency).
The open air Mass will include the Beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman, and the Pope is visiting The Oratory as this is where Cardinal Newman lived between 1852 and 1890.
The Pope will be the first person to pray at the shrine for the newly created “Blessed” John Henry Newman. It is also planned for the Pope to visit the rooms Cardinal Newman used at The Oratory before moving on for lunch at St Mary’s College, Oscott.
At the end of a busy day, the Pope will fly from Birmingham International Airport back to Rome.
If either Miliband wins the Labour Party leadership, we’ll know the Leader of the Opposition is pretty weird. After all, what normal person would fight their own brother for the position? Couldn’t they have decided between them who should run, and the loser support the other?
David Miliband has acted rather stupidly in the past (see picture below - oh, how that will haunt him if he does become Leader!) but his recent advice to Labour activists on how to run parties to support his leadership bid, has earned him bucket loads of criticism in the press and on the internet - with good reason.
The not-very-cool future Leader of the Opposition?
Activists wanting to host David Miliband parties are advised to give the house a quick vac before the guests arrive, and when the guests do turn up - to take their coats and introduce them to people! Gosh, who’d have thought it! Clearly David Miliband doesn’t think his supporters have many social skills if his camp need to give out such basic advice!
Meanwhile my spies tell me that meetings in this part of the world have been taking place in rooms at local pubs. Ah well, at least that way there’s no need to bother with the vac!
A Family Fun Day is taking place tomorrow, Saturday August 21st, at the Woodview Community Centre, Woodview Drive, on the Woodview Estate in Edgbaston, from 12-6.00pm.
There will be stalls, refreshments, workshops, a bouncy castle, a barbecue and music. The organisers are inviting everyone who lives locally to come along and be part of what’s happening in the community!
