Councillor Mike Flower

Excellent news!! We have been listened to and I look forward to voting in favour of this at the next Council meeting.

From the Walsall Council website today:

Walsall Council is planning to encourage more residents to recycle their garden clippings, by giving thousands more households the chance to take part in its garden waste collection service.

More than 16,000 households are set to get a ‘brown bin’ allowing them to recycle organic material from their gardens – boosting the number of households that can take part to around 76,000.

Proposals to increase the number of households getting a brown bin by 26 per cent are part of an £8.3 million package of investment in services being considered by senior councillors in February.

Eligible households in the borough would receive a brown bin, giving ‘optimum coverage’ of Walsall’s 107,000 households.

Councillor Rachel Walker, cabinet member for environment said: I’m delighted that we are planning to roll-out the brown bin service to many more thousands of households.

“Expanding the brown bin scheme, which has proven popular amongst residents, to cover as many households as possible, is an important part of Walsall Council’s future recycling activities.

“The scheme is an easy way for residents to recycle grass cuttings, plant clippings and other organic material from their gardens - and at the same time help the council to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill.”

The expansion of the brown bin scheme is an important part of reducing the amount of waste going to landfill – those residents with a brown bin should not put garden waste into green “wheelie bins”.

Large amounts of garden waste can also be taken to Household Waste Recycling Centres in Fryers Road, Leamore and Merchants Way, Aldridge.

Cabinet members are recommended to back the budget proposals when they meet on Wednesday 7 February 2007 and recommend their approval by Council on Monday 23 February 2007.

If the proposals are approved by elected members , they would increase Council Tax by less than £1 per week for the overwhelming majority of borough residents - despite £8.3 million being earmarked for investment in services.

Around 92 per cent of residents live in homes covered by the lowest four bands of Council Tax (A-D) and their bill could rise by just between 61 pence and 91 pence each week under budget proposals being drawn up.

The Birmingham Mail leads on the West Midlands to host the 2008 Conservative Party conference - which I am suprised other bloggers haven’t picked up on. Read more here.

I realise that this isn’t really significant for non party members, but as a Conservative representative in the West Midlands this is excellent news for the area. For too long now Birmingham and the West Midlands has been undervalued by all political parties and the government and sidelined for Manchester or London. If this turns out to be true then it will really show that the West Midlands is being taken seriously by high level politicians and it will generate an estimated £25 million for the local economy. This can only be good for all of us.

Whilst out and about on Saturday, myself and Keith found a spot that was suffering serious amounts of flytipping. Items dumped included gas bottles, fridges and sofas amongst other rubbish.

Dumping rubbish like this is against the law. Fly-tipping is the illegal disposal of waste on land. People found guilty of fly-tipping can face a fine of up to £20,000 and/or a prison sentence, for each and every disposal of waste. According to the law, we all have a duty to ensure that our waste is disposed of properly, even if we give our waste to someone else to dispose of it for us. Flytipping costs us all as taxpayers.

If you see someone flytipping please do contact the council. I can assure you that this site will be cleaned up as quickly is possible.

Walsall Council is teaming up with Dudley, Sandwell and Wolverhampton to produce a Black Country Core Strategy. The document will deal with land use, environmental, economic and social issues, as well as setting out the vision, objectives and strategy for future development in Walsall and the Black Country up to 2021.

Consultation will be held out in the communities. Please do go along and take part:

Aldridge

Wednesday 7th February:
Redhouse Shops, Redhouse Estate 10am-11.45am,
12pm-1.45pm Anchor Road, Aldridge Centre
2pm-4pm Lazy Hill Shops, Walsall Wood Rd

Brownhills, Pelsall & Rushall

Tuesday 13th February:
9am-11am Outside Tesco, Silver Street, Brownhills,
11.15-1.00pm Oak Park, Lichfield Road, Walsall Wood
1.15pm-2.15pm Pelsall Shops, High Street, Pelsall
2.30pm-3.30pm Rushall Centre

More information at: http://www.walsall.gov.uk/news/living_in_the_future___have_your_say.htm

Myself and Keith wrote to local residents this weekend to keep them informed about the development at Shire Oak. Please find below a copy of the letter to download.

Download our letter to residents

Cllr Keith Sears has long lobbied for an additional bus stop on the Lichfield Road, Sandhills in the direction of Lichfield after being contacted by local residents. As you can see in this photo he was successful which is great news for people in the area who want to get public transport to Lichfield.

The local concern at Shire Oak and the petition received good coverage on page 10 of the Express and Star today. I hope this will increase public awareness.

I spent the morning at the Council’s waste depot learning about how the waste, recycling and other street pride services work. In this picture I am with the paper that has been recycled just for half a day in Walsall. The mound is twice as wide as in the picture. It just goes to show that collectively the amounts we use and recycle really makes a difference. Imagine this going into landfill every day all across the world - it just goes to show how important recycling is.

I met with some residents in the Vigo a couple of weeks ago and I have been chasing Walsall Housing Group for answers to queries - so far with no success. WHG now runs what used to be council owned housing. Therefore my influence is limited but I am trying to get them to converse with me!

I am also trying to get a light for the play area in the Vigo. This park has been overlooked for too long and provides a dark refuge at night for potential illegal activity. I hope the council can do something for us. Another watch this space.

It’s all go in the ward at the moment! A pretty busy, and quick learning curve since the election just 8 weeks ago.

You may remember at the end of December I opened a consultation on the bus shelter by Castlefort School after the police asked me to look into having it removed due to anti-social behaviour issues.

The response from the public wasn’t overwhelming but it is clear that some people would appreciate a bus shelter remaining because they have to wait in the wind, rain and other elements. This argument is of course valid and therefore I shall be talking to Centro and the police about another approach to the issues here. Watch this space.

Some residents on Lichfield Road, Sandhills have requested that the gateway sign (above) is moved because it is causing confusion between Lichfield Road, Walsall Wood. Although the political area is called Walsall Wood, some people have thought that the Sandhills part of the Lichfield Road is the Walsall Wood part. As a result post has been misdelivered and people have turned up to the wrong houses. I’ve looked into the case and the Council will move the sign to the other side of the Shire Oak junction where the Lichfield Road properly becomes Walsall Wood village.

Download the Shire Oak petition form here

Residents contacted myself and Cllr Keith Sears about the proposed development of the brownfield site on the corner of Lichfield and Chester Roads - the site of the Shire Oak reservoir.

Residents have concerns about the impact a development would have on the already creaking highways infrastructure in the vicinity, especially Shire Oak junction which is a concern of many people across the ward. Is this the straw that breaks the camel’s back? The site also backs onto the Shire Oak Nature Reserve and we are concerned about such a large redevelopment so close to a place of natural beauty and a place alive with wildlife.

We are working with the residents and have been asked to launch a petition to present to the Council. This will highlight the issues and hopefully will be considered by the councillors at Development Control Committee. It is important to get the infrastructures in place before large development, and not the other way around.

For interested local residents the Express and Star will be covering this story and we shall be meeting for a photoshoot at 9:15am in Shire Oak pub car park (Wed 24th Jan). If you do have concerns please do contact the Council’s planning department and keep your local councillors in the loop.

As our representative on Development Control Committee Cllr Anthony Harris is unable to discuss planning applications before they go to committee (government regulations!) so please contact myself or Keith.

It is not unusual for a councillor to have to be in many places at once in one evening! This evening was one of those occasions when the Community Action Group (CAG) meeting clashed with the Walsall Wood Allotments Charity meeting.

I attended the Walsall Wood Allotments Charity as I felt it was important to attend this first meeting. I was officially appointed as a trustee of the Walsall Wood Allotments Charity and it is a very worthwhile charity. The charity buys items such as school uniforms, beds, cookers, fridges, etc for those people who are generally in poverty/struggling financially and have circumstances that make them especially in need - like living alone with a disability and no income - as an example. People may ask for a cooker because they can’t afford one to give you a flavour.

I made a real difference to many people’s lives this evening by deciding on applications for funding with the committee. Some people will be waking up in the morning to receive good news. We do not give everyone everything they ask for, and do not accept every application. We do try to look at applications fairly and to allocate important things that really will aid people in need or seriously improve their quality of life. Every application is confidential.

It was nice to leave a meeting having felt like i’d really accomplished something and made a difference. I’m sure there will be many more to come.

I highlighted here, a week and a half ago, the failure of the Home Office to provide us with the Police Community Support Officers they had promised by cutting their figures nationally.

Today the Birmingham Mail picks up this story, on a local level, and claims that Home Secretary John Reid originally planned to employ 1,187 in the West Midlands but has cut the number to 760.

We need more police officers, we need the police community support officers we were promised, and we need police officers freed from the shackles of red tape so they can get on with important neighbourhood policing. I believe that any cuts in this area are totally unacceptable and areas like ours that could suffer.