Category: Features

Words by Ed King

On 25 September, the Labour Government announced it was allocating £5bn to “long overlooked communities” across the country – supporting the locally led regeneration of “high streets, parks and public spaces”, as part of their ‘Pride in Place’ initiative.

In total, 339 neighbourhoods were in line to receive the widespread and welcomed funding – with the investment pot in each area governed by a team of local people and partner organisations.

Kingstanding was one of them. And now the residents and businesses of B44 will see £2m invested into their local community – each year, for ten years.

As the dust settles on this game changing announcement, Erdington/Kingstanding Local look at where the money came from, and – more importantly for most – where it could go.

“I promised to fight for investment in our area, and I am proud to have delivered on that promise.”

A press release from Erdington MP Paulette Hamilton lands on the Erdington Local and Kingstanding Local news desk, under embargo, from an excited Parliamentary team with a big announcement. We are sworn to secrecy for 24 hours. But the message is clear – and one full of ambition, hyperbole, and the occasional restrained battle cry.

Kingstanding is about to get some serious cash.

£2m per year, for ten years to be exact, coming to B44 as part of the Labour Government’s ‘Pride in Place’ initiative – which will see £5bn spread across 339 town centres and suburbs “to restore pride in their neighbourhoods”, as defined by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Steve Reed.

To use Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s own words, “it’s a huge investment”. And it’s not just the money, although £20m is a big enough win to shout about on its own. Especially in a ward with over 20,000 people that ranks at 12 out of 67 on the city’s list of most deprived areas – according to the last analysis in 2019.

According to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), the arm of Government in charge of allocating the fund, the grant carries “unprecedented new powers” over issues such as community asset transfers and compulsory purchase orders. It also gives the Local Authority more room to block potentially unwelcome business such as gambling outlets, barbers, and “dodgy vape shops.”

But ultimately, the decision was made across the country by needs testing.

“This £20 million investment was secured for Kingstanding because it meets the specific criteria for high deprivation and weak social infrastructure,” explains Paulette Hamilton MP, explaining how her office secured the money from central Government.

“For too long, the people of Kingstanding have felt overlooked, but now, with a Labour MP and a Labour government on their side, they are finally getting the investment they deserve.”

In today’s increasingly cynical world much good news gets heard as bad. Especially online. And even £20m it seems is not enough to silence the world wide wolves.

Quickly after Erdington Local publishes its initial article online, as the Prime Minister is telling the other 338 recipients how decline in their area “ends now”, reader responses come flooding in. Some good, some supportive; some slinging all too familiar mud.

The overriding challenge is why the investment is not coming to Erdington, as in the political ward that includes Erdington High Street – an area, as with High Streets across the country, that is perfectly positioned within the ‘Pride of Place’ rhetoric.

When the MHCLG press release mentions “boarded-up shops… nuisance businesses” and their support for local partners to “buy beloved local assets before they close”, it’s hard not to think of Erdington Town Centre.

Plus, the boundary line for where the £2m per annum can be invested cuts Kingstanding Circle in half – pushing half of Kings Road and Kingstanding Road out of the picture – and turns left onto Hawthorn Road, further excluding many businesses and buildings around the Dyas Road interchange.

But Kingstanding Ward is 26 places higher up the ‘Index of Deprivation’ than Erdington Ward. And the B23 Town Centre has recently received £880,000 worth of extra policing support in Operation Fearless – a high impact initiative to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour in the area.

A spokesperson for the new Erdington Business Improvement District team added: “Erdington Town Centre has seen drastic improvement [after Operation Fearless] and is in the process of securing its own funding for cultural events and markets.

“Crime is much lower and our community events are coming back; we’re heading back in the right direction.”

They added: “Erdington High Street could always use investment and previously missed out on both the Future High Street and Levelling Up funds. But the [Pride in Place] money is understandably going to Kingstanding; it’s a fully appropriate allocation.”

Other responses circling the initial announcement ranged from directly personal attacks at the Erdington MP – including an odd challenge about Paulette Hamilton’s winter wardrobe – to more widespread concerns over how the money will be managed. Or mismanaged.

“Don’t let the MPs or councillors anywhere near it,” states one comment on the Erdington Local Facebook page. “They’ve already bankrupt the city.”

Now this is harder to counter, on a local level at least. As Birmingham City Council continues to crawl out from its financial hole – with services drastically cut, assets ruthlessly sold, a perpetual bin strike, and an unprecedented rise in Council Tax (effectively handing a chunk of the city’s bill onto its residents) – you could see how £2m year could come in handy.

But the ‘Pride in Place’ funding comes with clear stipulations from the MHCLG that “local people will decide how funding is spent”, with a Board of local Kingstanding residents and stakeholders, chaired by the Erdington MP, ultimately holding the purse strings.

A sentiment of local solidarity backed by the Prime Minister, who states: “what matters most is who decides how [the funding] spent: the neighbours, volunteers and parents who know their communities best – the people with real skin in the game.”

Furthermore, the MHCLG “will only approve spending if Pride in Place Boards have genuinely engaged their communities”, although how this will be monitored is yet to be clarified.

Sitting Kingstanding Councillor Clifton Welch (Conservatives) takes a pragmatic approach, seeing the money as “a golden opportunity” – despite his ongoing concerns over the “incompetent Labour Council”.

“I hope the money will be invested to improve the areas like Hawthorn Road, Kingstanding Circle and Conker Island,” adds Cllr Welch, hoping such civic improvements could “attract additional private investment.”

He’s also keen to see the ward’s green spaces such in Burford Park, Finsbury Park and Conker Island “protected” and better serve the children and families on Kingstanding for “decades to come. I want to see this money used for legacy projects.”

Gary Byrne, Vice Principal at Kings Rise Academy, sees the investment as both “fantastic” and “long overdue”, hoping the annual seven figure amounts “honours the legacy of Kingstanding’s proud history” whilst also supporting “its growing and diverse demographic so that a unity of community purpose can be found.”

A fiercely loyal educator and Kingstanding resident, Gary Byrne has long been a champion of B44’s young people – nurturing ambition and a sense of pride in the pupils at Kings Rise Academy through world record breaking challenges and an acute celebration of the suburb’s history, both inside and outside the classroom.

And despite not turning a blind eye to the criminality and aggression that plagues some of Kingstanding’s streets “the desire [for positive change] is there,” adds Gary. “Hopefully the will of the [Pride in Place] board can match these aspirations.”

Andy Leeming, Headteacher at Kingsthorne Primary School, also hopes young people are a central consideration in the coming investment.

After the announcement, Leeming tells Erdington Local “it would be great” for local educators to benefit from the bursary (including Kingsthorne’s own “community building which has unfortunately fallen into disrepair”) but adds “anything that brings finances into the area and can improve local facilities has to be a positive.”

Outside of education, Bishop Desmond Jaddoo MBE also welcomes the funding “as an opportunity to make a genuine difference in our community.”

Chair of Birmingham Empowerment Forum, Bishop Jaddoo has been longstanding resident of Kingstanding and acts as a “community advocate” for the area in good times and bad – campaigning for local unity, challenging youth violence, and bringing the first bleed kits to the area.

When 14year old Dea-John Reed was stabbed and killed by another youngster in broad daylight on College Road, amidst widespread allegations of racial aggression, Bishop Jadoo lead the local community through a peaceful vigil and kept the streets calm. He knows first hand the knife edge a local community can rest upon.

“For this funding to achieve lasting and meaningful impact,” explains Bishop Jaddoo, “it must be directed toward sustainable, locally led initiatives that reflect the true needs, aspirations, and diversity of Kingstanding’s residents.”

Simply pouring money over poverty has a chequered perfect track record, not only in local government. The 1961 Littlewoods Football Pools winner Viv Nicholson once said, after winning a modern equivalent of around £4.3m, she was going to “spend, spend, spend” before becoming a bankrupt alcoholic.

“We must invest in people – in understanding, unity, and the creation of a shared sense of belonging,” adds Bishop Jaddoo, hoping any bricks and mortar investment will also rebuild some of the community’s more emotional walls.

“Every pound invested should deliver visible benefit,” he concludes, “improving lives, opportunities, and trust within Kingstanding.”