Councillor Mike Flower

From the BBC News website today it appears that the average council tax is set to rise by 4.2% across England and Wales, according to a study commissioned by the BBC. Local authorities will raise bills by £53 to £1,302 for an average band D property in 2007/08, it found. Walsall is therefore delivering an increase lower than this national average - despite poor government grants this year.

Here is a summary of the budget proposals we accepted on Monday evening:

Walsall Council invests millions in services

“Walsall Council is investing millions of pounds as it continues to improve services, but Council Tax will increase by less than £1 per week for the overwhelming majority of borough residents.

Councillors last night (Mon) approved a revenue budget for 2007/2008 which has been increased by £8.9 million.

Eighty-four per cent of Walsall borough residents live in homes covered by the lowest three bands of Council Tax (A-C) and their bill will rise by between 60 pence and 80 pence each week.

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 by 27 per cent to around 76,000.

The authority will continue its £1 million libraries modernisation programme and improve access to council services with a £150,000 mobile ‘customer service’ bus that will tour the borough’s communities.

It is giving £100,000 to Local Neighbourhood Partnerships to help tackle issues in their communities and each area will benefit from at least one clean-up campaign.

New sites will be added to the council’s grounds maintenance programme; older people are getting more community care workers and the council will crack down on commercial fly tipping.

The council will provide extra resources for adults with learning difficulties and take steps to generate energy from household waste. It will establish business forums – where they do not already exist - to help continue the regeneration of district centres.

Leader of the council Tom Ansell said: “This is a budget for better services, balanced with responsible use of our resources.

“I am delighted that our prudent financial management means Walsall Council can invest in improved services wherever possible, whilst fulfilling our commitment to provide real value for money to Walsall people.

“Producing this budget has been tough, as like many councils, we face significant challenges in setting budgets because of the way the Government decides how much financial support to give local authorities.”

Councillors also last night approved a mainstream capital programme of more than £32 million for the coming financial year – including £1.4 million investment in Walsall primary schools and £1.3 million for the borough’s secondary schools.

The approved revenue budget of almost £213 million will result in Council Tax for a Band D property being set at £1,246.87, excluding fire and police precepts – an increase of 3.89 per cent.

It includes significant investment, but there are also proposals for economies to be made, as the council ensures that it balances its books.

These include the restructure of services to release funding to front line services, re-negotiation of current contractual arrangements, business process re-engineering and introduction of electronic management systems within revenue and benefits and a sharpened approach to procurement.”

From West Midlands Fire Service:

“As part of our commitment to making West Midlands safer, we offer a free service where firefighters from your local Fire Station will carry out a free home fire safety check.

The home fire safety check will take about half an hour of your time. Firefighters will check your home and give you fire safety advice in order to keep you safe from fire and also fit a free smoke alarm(s), if required.

Visits will be by appointment only and will be arranged at a convenient time to suit you.

Firefighters will be wearing uniforms and carrying identification cards. Please ask to see the identification card, and if you require confirmation telephone the Freephone Helpline on 0800 389 5525.

Home fire safety checks are free your safety is our concern.

To request your free home fire safety check:

Call Freephone Helpline: 0800 389 5525.

Register Online

All requests will be processes in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. For further information click here

For further information on how to stay safe from fire in your home click here“

I received this email recently and it made me smile:

“I must congratulate you on your sterling efforts in securing £2,500 for Walsall Wood Youth Centre, I am sure that it was not easy; you are a true champion for young people.”

Its little things like that that makes it seem worthwhile

I was delighted to vote in favour of the budget this evening and secure brown bins for Walsall Wood. It is fantastic to have managed to fulfill one of my election pledges. More info to follow.

A public meeting of Walsall Council will be held this Monday at 6pm in the Council Chamber, Council House. Items for discussion are the budget and council tax banding.

Agenda items and documents are here: http://www2.walsall.gov.uk/CMISWebPublic/Meeting.aspx?meetingID=713

Please email me if you have any comments or questions and you are allowed to turn up to watch from the public gallery.

According to a survey today by ING bank, after interviewing 200 estate agents, there are 10 signs of an area’s increasing prosperity.

- Ethnic Cuisine
- Thicker telephone directories
- Crowded public transport
- Better school results
- Neighbourhood watch schemes
- More burglar alarms
- More skips and scaffolding
- Graffiti disappearing
- Planning notices appear
- More traffic wardens

We are setting up a Walsall Wood wide neighbourhood watch scheme, there appears to be a lot of planning applications going in for our area and i’ve seen the odd skip and scaffolding around. Schools in the area are doing well and reported graffiti is being cleaned quickly.

We will shortly have a re-opened youth centre, a new library by the summer and the regeneration of the Lichfield Road/High Street as part of the A461 corridor regeneration - which hopefully will happen in the next two years.

Is Walsall Wood turning a corner? What do you think? Please let me know.

I was pleased to attend the Annual General Meeting of the Aldridge North and Walsall Wood Conservative branch this evening. It was great to see it so full and to see new members come along with some really good ideas. But let me throw the gauntlet down to you - the public.

- Are you fed up with the way the Labour Government are running the country?
- Are you fed up with particular issues in Aldridge North & Walsall Wood?
- Could you help me make a positive difference to our community and achieve things like regeneration, community events and dealing with other important issues?

Now is the time to make a stand. Please come and help me, my fellow councillors and our hard working MP, Richard Shepherd. Together we can really make a difference. We are already doing so as I hope this blog demonstrates, but lets continue the momentum. I cannot do things alone.

Please consider joining the Conservative Party locally. It is just £15 to join and that money will help us to communicate with the public through leaflets and canvassing. I will be more than happy to talk to anyone about this. That is what politics needs - people to talk to each other.

If you don’t want to join the party, could you help deliver leaflets, or help organise non-political community events like they do in Pelsall? Lets build a community spirit.

Please do contact me if you can help. Lets do something good for our area - together.

Planning permission has been submitted for this site. Ref:07/0204/FL/E9

Plans can be viewed by visiting www.walsall.gov.uk and clicking on planning and searching using the number above.

Local residents have asked me to support them in opposing this application and I will be meeting with them next week to discuss a way forward. In the meantime please let the council officers have your objections in writing to ensure your views are investigated and considered. This is vitally important.

Thats exactly what we asked today. Myself, Keith and Anthony got together with council officers and Cllr Louise Harrison (all pictured above), cabinet portfolio holder for culture to see whats going on with the new library. The aim is to get it open by Summer 2007 so we’ll remain on the case to ensure its kept on track.

The Local Neighbourhood Partnership accepted the petition I presented this evening against the outline planning permission for development at Shire Oak junction. Councillors and partners unanimously voted to support the petition and add their support to the objections raised.

I was pleased that many residents came along and spoke out against the proposals. A report will be compiled shortly and it will be debated at Development Control Committee next month I believe. I will keep you posted…

The LNP added to the rules for funding slightly tonight. This year it has £10,000 to spend in Aldridge North, Walsall Wood and Brownhills.

The LNP decided to allocate £3,200 to a “community cash scheme”. This will provide a new pot of funding of upto £400 for 8 projects across the LNP area. Projects must be submitted by the 6th April.

I voted against this believing that it would be better to keep £5,000 for each ward - having spent £3,020 and leaving £2,000 for Aldridge North & Walsall Wood. Anyone could then apply for money from that. Myself and Keith were outvoted so this is now limited to £400 per project anywhere in the LNP area. This means that there are now deadlines, projects can not be over £400 and it is possible none of it could be spent in Aldridge North and Walsall Wood.

The good news is that i’m on the panel that will look at the applications. Please do get applying for money and make sure some of it is spent in our ward. For further information talk to Parpinder Singh on 01922 654722.

I was delighted tonight when the Local Neighbourhood Partnership voted in favour of my proposal to provide Walsall Wood Youth Club with £2,500 to help kit it out internally. Walsall Council look after the structure of the building, but not the equipment and the internal decoration. I believe that the Community Association will match this funding so thats £5,000 in total. This money will go some way towards getting the place ship shape.

I hope the Youth Club will start being active again next week. Fingers crossed…

Things are pretty hectic at the moment! I had 6 people attend my surgery this morning - so the word is going around.

Just some of the things I am dealing with at the moment include: lighting for Vigo Park, chasing WHG over housing issues in Roberts Close, opposing the development at Shire Oak, anti-social behaviour cases, mobile phone mast, the condition of a road surface, parking problems, regeneration of the A461, speeding on Lazy Hill Road, writing references for community groups, ensuring the Youth Club gets reopened on time, problems with flytipping, security at Oak Park, getting the new library project moving and of course brown bins!!

There is an amazing amount of things there to do! I am trying my best to deal with them all and juggle them. Phew! I think I may just squeeze in a family celebration in Sheffield tomorrow.

Shire Oak petition: I have had over 350 signatures on the Shire Oak petition and numerous letters supporting our actions. Can I thank everyone who has signed up or has written in. I have been really pleased that the public have responded, it shows that there really is a problem that needs dealing with.

I took our Member of Parliament, Richard Shepherd, up to the junction during a busy time to explain the plans and show him the petition.

The petition will be presented to the Local Neighbourhood Partnership meeting on Monday evening (6pm, Park View Centre, Brownhills) and will also be presented to the Development Control Committee at the Council.

I was asked at the Community Action Group to find out more information from the Council with regard to the Brownhills by-pass, so I went into the Council today and met with the officer tasked with the project. The status of the project is pretty much the same as stated before - plans are currently being drawn up. There is a lot of work and negociating to be done just to get the plans into some sort of shape for discussion. I have been assured that I will be informed as soon as the project moves forward.