OPINION: Erdington Cllr Robert Alden, Leader of Birmingham Conservatives

Words by Erdington Ward Cllr Robert Alden – Leader of Birmingham Conservatives

(l-r) Cllr Robert Alden and Cllr Gareth Moore on a community litter pick in Rookery Park (lr) / Pic supplied by Cllr Alden

This month Cllr Gareth Moore and I, amongst many issues, have been working with residents to tackle issues caused by two new exempt accommodation units.

In this month’s Council debate we also renewed our calls for a change in law to make exempt accommodation units require planning permission and so prevent the continued conversion of family houses, blighting our area and the city.

I have been opposing a planning application for a new HMO on Mason Road, both collecting a petition against the application and updating residents with details of how to object.

At the end of January, we joined the Friends of Rookery Park and Envisage for their community litter pick in Rookery Park. It was great to see so many volunteers out helping, having ‘Pride in Erdington’.

The Labour run Council have announced their plans to hit residents with another double whammy of higher taxes for fewer services in their new budget.

Council Tax is rising another 7.5%, another £134 a month on average, meaning its increased by 73% since Labour took control of the Council in 2012, an average increase of £814 for a band D property.

The City Council are also axing another £1.8m from street cleaning, likely meaning more rubbish on the streets. Matters have been made worse by the Labour Council’s plans to introduce fortnightly bin collections, a ‘rat tax’ for pest removal services and Labour’s ongoing bin strike.

Gareth and I continue to call on the Council to fix the service and keep our bin collections weekly.

For more from Erdington’s Councillor Robert Alden and Councillor Gareth Moore visit www.facebook.com/ErdingtonNews

NEWS: Pype Hayes resident launches petition to ‘Stop Birmingham City Council’s Unfair Council Tax Increase’

Words by Ed King

Pype Hayes resident, Daniel Edge, has started an online petition to ‘Stop Birmingham City Council’s Unfair Council Tax Increase’ – amassing hundreds of signatures a day from people across the city.

Launched on 10 January, the petition set a target of 1500 signatures which it is well on course to reach.

At the time of writing, only five days after the petition went live on the recognised campaigning website Change.org, 1358 people had put their name down in support – with 228 recorded in a single day.

To access the petition to ‘Stop Birmingham City Council’s Unfair Council Tax Increase’ on Change.org, click here.

Birmingham City Council (BCC) has recently come under question after they wrote to the government last year, to get Westminster to allow the beleaguered local authority to increase Council Tax above the legal limit of 4.99% without holding a referendum.

Current laws limit the amount a local council can increase their yearly Council Tax charge to residents without a public vote on the matter.

But following BCC’s financial crisis, after the city issued a Section 114 notice in September 2023 – effectively declaring itself bankrupt – the drastic step has been taken to get government approval to jump those restrictions, meaning Birmingham residents could face an increase of up to 21% on their Council Tax bills over the next two years.

The decision to approach central government to allow such a significant hike in Council Tax, without the legally required public consultation or vote, was approved by BCC in a full Cabinet meeting in December 2023 – with Council Leader John Cotton stating it would only be implemented “if necessary”.

Cllr Cotton added: “It’s clear that we’ll need to seek exceptional financial support from the government in order to bring the council’s budget back into balance.

“These are obviously very tough times, we’ve got some difficult and challenging decision ahead of us in shaping this budget.”

On 5 September 2023, Birmingham City Council issued a Section 114 notice after facing a budget shortfall of around £84m for their next accounting year.  

There were also reported debts over equal pay liabilities amounting to an estimated £760m and costs surrounding the Oracle IT system of up to a further £100m – although these figures have been questioned by some sources in the city.

With a team of commissioners now overseeing Birmingham’s bank balance, local residents are worried they will end up footing the bill for BCC’s mistakes – seeing “unfair” increases in Council Tax and losing services.

Speaking to Erdington Local about his decision to start a petition to ‘Stop Birmingham City Council’s Unfair Council Tax Increase’, Daniel Edge explained: “I was moved to create the petition because of the unfairness and injustice of the proposed council tax hikes.

“Birmingham has 1.1M citizens of various socio-economic groups and a large proportion of those will be significantly impacted by these above inflation increases.

“It is simply not fair that the council tax payers are picking up the pieces of over 10 years of financial mismanagement. I’m happy for a 4.99% increase, the most the council can do without seeking government approval, but not a penny more.”

One signee of the petition comments: “I’m a resident of Birmingham and the councillors should be held to account for their mismanagement of finances over the years as opposed to this ridiculous increase in council tax.”

Another adds: “Daylight robbery! Stealing from the poor full stop for mis-management of public funds.”

Whist a further supporter of the petition ends their comment by saying: ”… I am being penalised for being a good resident and paying my way. I am not prepared to be a cash cow.”

To read more on the petition to ‘Stop Birmingham City Council’s Unfair Council Tax Increase’ visit: www.change.org/p/stop-birmingham-city-council-s-unfair-council-tax-increase