Councillor Mike Flower

I’ve just had through the list for the second wave of brown bins in Walsall Wood. Democracy really does work. Everyone who has contacted me asking for a brown bin will have received one by the end of the month. The roads are:

Queen Street, Green Lane, Bridgeside Close, Beechtree Road, Peake Crescent, Vigo Close, Roberts Close, Prince Street and King Street.

Hundreds of new bins will have been delivered in Aldridge North & Walsall Wood. I hope you will all have fun tending to the gardens and filling them up!

I hope it also shows we try hard to deliver for you.

The next phase of brown bins for garden waste is being finalised and information will be sent out next week. Here is the timetable:

Send out information to residents 8th May to 11th May 2007
Distribute bins 14th May to 18th May 2007
First collections Wednesday 23rd May 2007

I was really pleased to see new brown bins at the ends of many people’s drives as I drove around the ward this evening. Their first collection is tomorrow.

There is a second phase coming out at the end of May. I have argued the case for other streets and roads, including Beechtree Road, and I hope other roads will be included in the next phase. I have argued the case for those streets whose residents have contacted me previously from my leaflets or have come to see me in my surgeries. I hope to post some further good news later.

I am really pleased to have been able to deliver on this pledge and it is thanks to my other Conservative colleagues on the Council. It is not often I mention other political parties on this blog but I was a little irriated when the Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors criticised the Conservatives at Monday’s Council meeting for not rolling out more brown bins. They voted against the proposals which were included the budget - and if they had won the vote no one would have had any extra brown bins introduced. They also could have tabled an amendment and didn’t.

Anyway I will continue to push for whatever I can which is positive for Aldridge North & Walsall Wood.

I just received an email that made me smile:

“hello Mike just to say a big thank you for keeping a promise waited 28 years for one the promise we have recieved our brown bin it will be ready for the collection on the 27th April if you would like to help fill same you are more than welcome

once again a big thank you”

I’m glad I and my colleagues could do something to make a difference.

The delivery of the first wave of brown bins is underway! Distribution of bins to households are from 26th March to 13th April 2007. First collections commence on the 16th April 2007. A second phase will then be consulted upon to ensure those properties missed in the first round with large gardens are included.

Walsall Wood properties in the first batch include: Chester Road - Stonnall, Hall Lane, Barns Close, Camden Street, Oakwood Close, Lawnswood Drive, Quantock Close and Ivy Grove. I will be pushing for others to be included in the second phase.

Councillor Rachel Walker, Conservative cabinet member for environment said: “Thousands of households across the borough will get their new brown bins in the coming weeks and I hope people use them to recycle as much garden waste as possible during the growing season and beyond.

“Expanding the brown bin scheme to cover as many Walsall households as possible is an important part of Walsall Council’s future recycling activities.

“Using your brown bin 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.”

Good news for the people who live here. Not only are you getting a new brown bin but the council shall also be resurfacing your road - probably in the summer months. They will also look at parking issues on the corner of this road and Salters Road.

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.”

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.

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.

I had a busy day today out and about:

- Photoshoot at Sandhills by the gateway sign for the Express and Star.
- Meeting with Richard Shepherd MP at the Conservative Association offices, followed by a visit to Shire Oak junction to discuss the plans.
- Dealing with a resident’s concern about housing allocation.
- Various chasing up various enquiries to move things along.
- Written a letter of support for a community organisation bidding for lottery funding.
- Some door knocking and canvassing of residents concerned about brown bins.
- Received various invites to community meetings which need to be responded to.

My surgery is in the morning 10-11 at Walsall Wood library - I hope people will feel happy to come and see me.

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 Conservative administration has listened to the views of the public raised during the recent by-election. Residents in many parts of the ward have been excluded from the garden waste (brown bin) collection service after the Council reached capacity. Now Conservatives are proposing, in the draft budget, the extension of the scheme to all houses that have been excluded. This will see brown bins and collection service offered to every household in Walsall Wood that requires one.

The draft budget will be debated by the Conservative cabinet on Wednesday and if approved will be presented to Council for final debate.

I am delighted that my colleagues have listened to the views raised by so many during the by-election - views I have been repeating in the Town Hall. I have since received many phone calls, emails and letters backing my campaign to get garden waste collected ALL across the ward. This Wednesday will formally see this proposed and is a massive step forward to getting brown bins for everyone in the ward. Watch this space.

I was pleased to receive a thank you email today from a gentleman who had received a new brown bin lid from Walsall Council. He contacted me last week saying it had been broken during collection and he had experienced trouble getting a replacement. It is nice to see that I was able to make a positive difference, even if it is a small one!

I have spent the best part of today responding to queries, emails and letters from local residents. The brown bin issue is certainly important for the many people in the ward who do not have brown bins for their garden waste. Many argue they pay the same rates as others who have them and therefore why shouldn’t they have them? I totally agree and will be pushing for brown bins for every household in the ward who has the need for one.

Other issues I have dealt with today are: status of planning applications, bus shelters, neighbourhood watch, clearing leaves, parking, the library and Shire Oak junction. Phew!

The recent election campaign highlighted that there is inconsistency with the provision of brown bins in Walsall Wood.

Please help me to argue for brown bins for those in the ward who have been overlooked or have moved into new estates. Please email me at flowermd@walsall.gov.uk or write to me at:

Walsall Council, The Council House, Walsall, West Midlands, WS1 1TP.

The more letters and emails I have the stronger the case I will be able to make to the Cabinet.