Future plans for Aldridge Ambulance station?

Although Aldridge Ambulance station isn’t in my ward, as an Aldridge North and Walsall Wood councillor the communities I represent do have a vested interest in the ambulance station in Aldridge.

I understand that planning permission has been submitted to the Council for Morrisons to extend onto the site of the current Ambulance Station.

I wrote to the Chief Executive of the West Midlands Ambulance Trust to ask him for the lowdown and in fairness to him he responded very quickly. He wrote:

“My team have confirmed that Morrisons who own the store and land adjacent to Aldridge Ambulance Station have indicated to the Trust that they would like to buy the site for their store expansion. At this stage we have said that we may be interested but no more than that.

The store has applied for planning permission and we have made our staff aware of the interest. Part of that plan is for a response post for a Paramedic Rapid Response Car to be retained on the existing site.

We now have a detailed piece of work ongoing which is looking at stations within the area and trying to establish whether or not we can create new locations that will improve performance in the area. A number of locations have already been looked at and subsequently rejected due to either being in the wrong place or having poor access and egress.

At this stage this is no more than a review, but if we believe that changes will result in better response times then the Trust will consult with all stakeholders appropriately before any changes are recommended to the Board.”

So that is the current state of play. Generally it makes sense to have a review and then apply for planning permission, not the other way around. I have formally written to the Council to highlight my concern about any application that will have an effect on the ambulance site. I know Richard Shepherd MP also has concerns.

This is one we all need to keep a close eye on.

What next for rubbish collection?

Councillors across the Borough have received a lot of comments over the past few months about the new bin system. It seems to have gone down quite well. Great. But what next?

A scattering of thoughts:

Some people would like their green recycling bins emptied weekly.
Some people would like brown bins for garden waste as some properties still don’t have them. One resident suggested to me that food waste should instead go in the bin with garden waste, collected weekly, and the grey bin should be collected less often.

The Council are going to be reviewing the system shortly to see what works, what doesn’t and what can be done differently.

My aims would be: good service, value for money, a weekly collection for products that smell, reduction of waste being sent to landfill.

I don’t have a monopoly on good ideas so i’m throwing it open – how would you next improve the waste collection service?