Official Birmingham Development Thread 37!

[djay]

they are a front runner for neighbourhood planning

[nigeman]

Originally Posted by sefton66

Read More http://www.birminghampost.net/news/w...#ixzz1yGHxirpa

Perry Barr/Birchfield's going to need this, what with Tuckers fasterners going soon, Birmingham City uni going soon, derilict empty sites strewn around One Stop ie the old Library, Birchfield Road towers site etc. This area needs some care and attention and a lot of investment.

[ReissOmari]

Yup, soon Perry Barr will be just flyovers, underpasses and a shopping centre, reminds me of Brent Cross.

[SuttonBluenose]

Originally Posted by djay

they are a front runner for neighbourhood planning

According to my Armed response mates, Balsall Heath is one of the safest parts of Brum, very little crime there in comparison to other areas.

Also, the neighbourhood watch scheme works fantastically well there.

[Spread]

News from EGI

Council to eye Brum regeneration plans


Plans for the wide-ranging regeneration of the Aston, Newtown and Lozells areas in Birmingham city centre are to go before Birmingham council on 25 June.

The Aston, Newtown and Lozells Area Action Plan sets out a comprehensive and co-ordinated approach to shaping housing, employment, local centres, community facilities, transport and the environment, to 2026.

The proposals include 1,700 new homes, a new 50-acre business park on Aston Hall Road that will target manufacturing firms, a hotel, access improvements to the A34 at Perry Barr station and a new youth centre.

The growth of Perry Barr and Birchfield is also key, with new housing, 270,000 sq ft of shops, 108,000 sq ft of offices and leisure space. The council is looking for developer contributions for affordable housing, open space, transport infrastructure and employment strategies.

The plan will be submitted for adoption following consideration by cabinet next week. If adopted, work will begin on developing the business park, planning the growth of Perry Barr/Birchfield and on continuing housing regeneration in Newtown.

[Erebus555]

Originally Posted by djay

they are a front runner for neighbourhood planning

I had a brief look at that a few months back and I was quite sceptical about how it would work but from looking at what has been done in Balsall Heath so far, it's actually looking really positive. I was expecting it to be quite idealistic and objectionist but they really considered the deeper issues affecting the area and seemed quite frank about the issues.

How this plays out in the future remains to be seen but if the start of the process is anything to go by, this could end up being very successful for the area.


Also liking the sound of the Local Area Action Plan for Nechells et al. It has gone such a massive number of issues and it seems that the council have not been scared in pushing through some experimental solutions - especially with the housing.

[nigeman]

Originally Posted by nigeman

May be nothing, but security fencing as gone up round Gallan's Lancaster Circus/Vesey street car park site, preventing access. The site where the new student tower development is planned...

Turns out it was nothing. Rang Gallan parking today and asked them what was going on. Apparently some legal hitch meant they had to close the car park temporarily. Opening again next week, so business as usual I'm afraid.

[Typhoon2000]

Originally Posted by SuttonBluenose

According to my Armed response mates, Balsall Heath is one of the safest parts of Brum, very little crime there in comparison to other areas.

Also, the neighbourhood watch scheme works fantastically well there.

Well, yeh - I was listening to BBC WM and they were interviewing a guy from that neighbourhood. He said that, yep the place was awful but it got to the point that one street eventually said "enough was enough" and decided to gather together to tidy the place up and keep an eye on each other.

Other streets gathered together and in the end they had a whole community where everyone tidied their rubbish, a community action group was set up to deal with problems of crime - usually social problems such as flytipping, they shut down a rowdy pub, and eventually many of the problems dispersed and went away - in fact this community was the idea behind David Cameron's Big Society project and he even stayed with one of the families that helped to develop Balsall Heath's community project to get an idea of how it could be maximised on a national scale.

Now that's not to say that it's the most desirable residence but it certainly managed to clean up many of the problems from 10 years ago.

[vanson]

Originally Posted by Typhoon2000

Well, yeh - I was listening to BBC WM and they were interviewing a guy from that neighbourhood. He said that, yep the place was awful but it got to the point that one street eventually said "enough was enough" and decided to gather together to tidy the place up and keep an eye on each other.

Other streets gathered together and in the end they had a whole community where everyone tidied their rubbish, a community action group was set up to deal with problems of crime - usually social problems such as flytipping, they shut down a rowdy pub, and eventually many of the problems dispersed and went away - in fact this community was the idea behind David Cameron's Big Society project and he even stayed with one of the families that helped to develop Balsall Heath's community project to get an idea of how it could be maximised on a national scale.

Now that's not to say that it's the most desirable residence but it certainly managed to clean up many of the problems from 10 years ago.

If only us British stuck together in other things this country wouldnt be in such a mess.

[Sgt.Wilko]

I have to say that when I am told something that I find difficult to believe from my own personal knowledge then if I have a little time then I do try to check it out.

I personally could not believe from my knowledge of the area that Balsall Heath has become on oasis of calm so I took the Police figures on their website for 1 mile radius of Edward Road Balsall Heath , Cross Keys Erdington, Gerrard Street Lozells & my own Four Oaks postcode.

These crimes are the ones officially recorded during April 2012 and of course do not reflect the under reporting associated with high crime areas ( the police do nothing etc). So I really do not understand why the armed response guy seems to feel that Balsall Heath is one of the safest areas in Brum to live with “very little crime”

The figures simply do not support that view or statement, which is slightly worrying for an officer of the law to be so out of touch with his own forces statistics??? 75 instances of violent crime in a month is not safe in my book!!!


B. Heath E'ton L'zells F.Oaks

All Crime 510 374 570 62

Burglary 35 36 50 14

Anti Social Behaviour 156 124 208 10

Robbery 20 5 25 1

Vehicle Crime 67 18 44 6

Violent Crime 75 53 86 4

Public disorder 19 12 20 4

Shoplifting 17 28 5 3

Criminal damage 41 36 38 7

Other theft 36 34 41 13

Drugs 30 15 31 0

Other crime 14 13 22 0

[Sgt.Wilko]

sorry the table looked fine when i typed it but it has all been condensed - I hope that you can read it OK. The figures from left to right are for Balsall Heath / Erdington / Lozells / Four Oaks.

It clearly shows that Balsall Heath & Lozells are similar with Erdington running 3rd.

[Typhoon2000]

Originally Posted by Sgt.Wilko

sorry the table looked fine when i typed it but it has all been condensed - I hope that you can read it OK. The figures from left to right are for Balsall Heath / Erdington / Lozells / Four Oaks.

It clearly shows that Balsall Heath & Lozells are similar with Erdington running 3rd.

But I'm talking about the area away from the Small Heath side which is predominantly residential and only has few odd shops there. The side you are on about does have some quite serious issues and most of those probably issues brought about by those living up by the Highgate/Small heath/Sparkbrook(?) areas.. - I certainly wouldn't walk around there at night..

[joshwebb]

I would just like to remind you that we have 5 days maximum untiil snow hill 3 is unveiled so what should we be expecting? I predict nothing and that we won't find out anything for another 4 months or so, does anybody else agree?

[ReissOmari]

Went past Orion earlier, and there were workers on the scaffoldings, there was a van that said Window Cleaners and one of the workers were using a spirit level on the scaffold, to be honest looks like they were putting up more!

[joshwebb]

Why what they doing to orion?

[Spread]

Demolition?

[Brummyboy92]

More street art on 'The Custard Factory, above there car park. Its like a giant orange tie.

[ROYAL BLUE]

Originally Posted by Brummyboy92

More street art on 'The Custard Factory, above there car park. Its like a giant orange tie.

I drove past the Custard factory a couple of days ago, it has to be said, from Digbeth High street almost the entire complex looks in need of a fresh lick of paint.

[sham01]

Originally Posted by ROYAL BLUE

I drove past the Custard factory a couple of days ago, it has to be said, from Digbeth High street almost the entire complex looks in need of a fresh lick of paint.

Thought this for a while

[Shel]

Originally Posted by sham01

Thought this for a while

It's like The Severn Bridge, they're constantly re-painting different parts of it!