Councillor Mike Flower

A quick round up of Development Control Committee this evening.

We agreed numerous enforcement notices - all on people who build or change the use of buildings and ignore the law. These people who think the law doesn’t apply to them deserve to feel the weight of the law. In addition we agreed to a number of tree preservation issues.

There were no planning applications from our ward. I want to focus on one application - a restrospective application for a hostel that houses teenagers. Richard Shepherd MP once gave me some advice that Enoch Powell gave him when he first became an MP. Always ask why. So when reading though the report I noticed that a fire applicance couldn’t reach the hostel but the fire service thought this was satisfactory. So I asked the obvious - why? It was met with silence as pages of reports were poured through - when it was revealed that the Fire Service did originally have concerns but they were now alayed as they couldn’t physically get to the hostel. My next question was - where is the fire hydrant? No one knew. So I asked if there was a sprinkler system - and the answer was no. So in the event of a fire a fire truck would have to park 40-90 yrds away and start getting hoses out. All valuable wasted time. I asked for a condition to be included - but we didn’t have the power to enforce anything as it was a retrospective application. The application was passed - but I hope the landlords will consider my concerns that were shared by other councillors.

Council

I don’t think I posted that we had Council a week or so ago. We adopted a new Code of Conduct and discussed motions on housing and rubbish collection.

Regeneration Scrutiny

This was held last Thursday and we agreed our work programme which includes reviewing the market in the town centre, and the regeneration of the town centre.

Walsall Council is preparing to improve the borough’s network of public rights of way but needs residents to say where the money should be spent.

The council is launching an extensive consultation exercise to see what people like, and dislike, about Walsall’s 53 miles (85.5km) of footpaths, bridleways, shared-use paths and byways.

More than 2,000 survey forms have been distributed with many residents using paths daily.

The consultation is aimed at improving rights of way for all users and will look at access for horse riders, cyclists, walkers, the disabled, the visually impaired and parents with prams.

The freepost survey is available from libraries, leisure centres, stables and on demand from the Public rights of way team, Engineering and transportation, Walsall Council, Civic Centre, Darwall Street, Walsall, WS1 1DG. Telephone Number 01922 652445, 01922 652517 or e-mail to publicrightsofway@walsall.gov.uk

Or you can fill in the survey online at: www.walsall.gov.uk and double click on the Rights of Way Survey icon on the right.

Councillor Anthony Harris, portfolio holder for transportation, said: “Public rights of way are a very useful network of routes covering most of the borough and enabling residents to travel from one area to another with ease, often by the shortest route.

“They are also particularly useful for those who use public transport or do not have a car.”

Today is St Swithun’s day and it is said that if it rains today then it will rain for the next 40 days. To be honest it feels like it has rained for the last 40 days too! Despite the weather there was an excellent turn out of young and old at Aldridge Airport for Rosie’s Annual Walk. We were even joined by a Captain Jack Sparrow lookalike! I was only too pleased to join in, and hobbled around the 3 mile track - having picked up some blisters from a high energy badminton tournament the day before! I crawled over the finish line and picked up my medal.

Of course the event is to support Rosie’s Helping Hands charity which is based in my ward - I personally thought it was a great success. Many thanks to Sean and Karen and many helpers who gave up their time for such a lovely community event. It meant I missed the Civic Sunday service at St Matthews - but it was worth it.

If you can donate please visit: http://www.rosieshelpinghands.org/

Here are more indepth results of the traffic survey on Lazy Hill Road (which I reported here).

Download report here.

An additional survey will be conducted on Lazy Hill Road outside numbers 152 / 154. This will be carried out during September once the schools are back. The last one was carried out half way down the road.

I have some catching up to do on this blog - a couple of meetings to feedback on - plus some of my projects I hope will bear some fruit over the next couple of weeks. So keep a look out!

I’ve just been cleaning out a back log of paper and buried deep among some of the stuff I get sent is a document on the “Black Country Core Strategy”. So whats this and why is it important?

Basically the Core Strategy is a planning document for the entire Black Country - which will cover issues including:

* the location and type of future housing developments
* where jobs should be located
* how people can move around the Black Country
* the location and size of new shopping, leisure and cultural facilities
* protection and improvement of the natural and built environment
* how to address the needs of the Black Country’s diverse communities

Now you can begin to see why it is important. If we want, for example, a Metro route in Walsall Wood, or improvements to major roads, sites dedicated as green belt, etc - then we have to get involved in this document. Otherwise a “Shire Oak Reservoir” case will happen again in the future.

Please take part while it is out for “public consultation” (following on from my previous post here) and visit the site at: http://blackcountrycorestrategy.dudley.gov.uk

I’ll be joining many others this Sunday for Rosie’s annual charity walk at Bosty Lane Airport in Aldridge.

Please do come along and help raise money for an excellent local charity which achieves great things.

More information at: http://www.rosieshelpinghands.org/forthcomingevents.htm

It could just be an amazing co-incidence - but either way its great news for people in Aldridge.

It has been mentioned to me by many residents in the Druids Heath and Coppy Hall area, since the by-election in November, that the car park outside the Co-Op in Lazy Hill is dangerous. I know this is the case as many a time i’ve jumped out of the car and into an amazingly deep pot hole! Although this area is just outside of my ward and in Aldridge Central and South the ward councillors there were happy that I make some enquiries - with an aim for the six of us to launch a petition to get it repaved. Well it just so happens that a week after we get the Land Registry ownership results back and do some shaking down at the Council - the car park is resurfaced! Whether this is because of the work we’ve been doing, or public presure, or just that its been on someones to do list - I don’t know.

Either way - we have a result!

You may remember back in December last year I highlighted the stupidity of a system where Police Community Support Officers in the West Midlands do not get stab proof vests - whereas police officers do. See here: http://mikeflower.wordpress.com/2006/12/17/doing-a-shift-with-the-police/

MPs and Officers have highlighted this issue here http://www.tom-watson.co.uk/?p=1239 and http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/5253778.stm

Today we see the news that a Police Community Support Officer has been stabbed in London: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6264686.stm

If this were the West Midlands we could be facing a fatality. Please please please can someone wake up and provide our frontline officers with the correct equipment.

I always try to emphasize that I am your representative on/to the Council first and not the Council’s representative in Aldridge North and Walsall Wood. Therefore I’m not going to offer excuses for the the Green Lane incident because its not my job to do so. Instead it is for me to try and get accountability and action.

Some residents have complained - and rightly so - that the surface of Green Lane has damaged their vehicle. The contractors for the work are Kiely Bros and can be contacted on 0121 772 3800 - 135 Cherrywood Road, Bordesley Green, Birmingham, B9 4XE. I am assured that they will deal with car cleaning and valletting. Residents wanting to claim compensation may either contact Kiely Bros direct or contact them through the Council.