Tag: Councillor Gareth Moore

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OPINION: Erdington Ward Councillor Robert Alden, Leader of Birmingham Conservatives

(L-R) Cllr Robert Alden adn Cllr Gareth Moore with speed camera as part of community speed watch on Kingsbury Road / Photograph supplied by Cllr Robert Alden and Cllr Gareth Moore

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

Cllr Gareth Moore and I have been working with residents and the Police to tackle speeding, dangerous driving and excessive noise from motor vehicles.

As part of this campaign, it has seen residents and ourselves joining the Police on a recent community speed watch on Kingsbury Road.

We continue to push the Council to approve our bid for road safety improvements on Spring Lane, which we have submitted. If approved this would see speed cushions introduced and raising the crossing to help improve safety.

We are delighted to announce that this week the Council has now agreed to introduce average speed cameras onto the Fort Parkway to tackle speeding cars there.

Racing cars in the evening is one of the causes of vehicle noise audible in the local area all too often. These cameras will help both improve the safety of the road and reduce the vehicle noise.

Sadly, however, the Council continue to refuse the request for average speed cameras on the Chester Road that we have been campaigning for.

This is despite a number of tragic incidents on the road in the last few years and of course both a park and school being alongside the road. Again, we continue to push the Council to change their mind and also introduce average speed cameras along this road.

As always if we can help with anything locally please just let us know on [email protected] or [email protected]

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

 

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OPINION: Erdington Cllr Robert Alden, Leader of Birmingham Conservatives

(l-r) Cllr Moore and Cllr Alden on Erdington High Street / Photograph by Ed King

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

(Ed’s note… this column was written the June/July Erdington Local newspaper and first published, in print, on Thursday 12 June.)

Cllr Gareth Moore and I have been continuing our campaign for West Midlands Police to reopen a public front desk at Erdington Police Station. Having recently secured the additional Police team for the ward, we are clear that this is best complimented by the reopening of the front desk for at least part of the week.

While the Police pod placed on the High Street is nice to support community groups, it is clearly not a replacement for a Police Front Desk. Therefore, we have again written to the West Midlands Police Chief Constable, calling on him to reopen the front desk.

Other things we’ve been doing for residents recently include campaigning against a planning application to convert four much needed bungalows behind 41 Deakin Road into care homes, tackling dumped rubbish and missed bin collections, securing a further visit from the Mobile Waste Trucks for residents to be able to get rid of rubbish during the strike, and supported community events like the recent volunteers day as well as much more.

We also spoke at a recent licensing review meeting against Drinks 2 Go, where we were calling on the Council to close the premises. Sadly, this was rejected by the Council, who added a further condition on the premise.

Finally, a big thank you to everyone who took part in the first Love Your Local Community High Street Litter Pick. It is hugely appreciated.

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

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OPINION: Erdington Cllr Robert Alden, Leader of Birmingham Conservatives

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

Cllr Alden and police on Erdington High Street / Photograph supplied by Cllr Alden

Cllr Gareth Moore and I are delighted to confirm that Erdington High Street will now have its own dedicated Police team in addition to the existing Neighbourhood team.

This is something we have been campaigning for over the last few years and is a very welcome change which will mean more police on both the High Street and across the rest of Erdington.

It is also part of what we have been arguing is needed following success of operation fearless to maintain the progress made. Another part we continue campaigning for is for the front desk at Erdington Police Station to reopen.

(l-r) Ray Woods from ECBC, Selina Gooden from EWG, and Cllr Alden at Erdington Court Bowls Club / Photograph suppplied by EWG

Over the last month we have joined residents at a number of wonderful community events including the Good Friday Walk of Witness, Easter Egg hunt by Short Heath Fields Trust, 100th Birthday Walk for the Erdington Baths building by Erdington Walking Group (EWG), where regeneration work to convert it into an Enterprise Hub has started, and VE Day 80th remembrance service.

We’ve also been helping residents with various issues including, dumped rubbish on Johnson Road, litter bins emptied and getting the pedestrian crossing lights, on Station Road, repaired.

I am currently collecting a petition opposing a planning application to convert the old plumbing shop on Mason Road into a takeaway and against an application to convert four much needed bungalows into supported accommodation on Deakin Road.

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

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OPINION: Erdington Cllr Robert Alden, Leader of Birmingham Conservatives

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

Cllr Robert Alden outside a mobile waste collection unit on Grange Road, Erdiington / Pic supplied by Cllr Alden

As we enter April, Erdington and Birmingham have been facing a bin strike for over three months due to the dispute between two parts of the Labour movement.

Across the City there have been hugely concerning scenes of dumped rubbish sometimes piled up to shoulder height, blocking pavements and carriageways, while the papers have reported that rats are growing as large as cats and spreading exponentially.

That’s why, while the Labour Council failed to lead, as the opposition the Local Conservatives published our plan to end the strike and clean up the city.

We also called on the Council to declare a public health emergency, to ask neighbouring councils for help clearing up the 21,000 tonnes of uncollected rubbish on the streets and we have offered as the opposition to join the gold command major incident board of the Council, putting residents first to help Labour end the crisis they created in Birmingham.

A massive thank you to local residents and everyone volunteering with Erdington Litter Busters and local friends groups helping to keep our area clean.

While press coverage around the world has highlighted rubbish issues in communities and at Mobile Collection sites across the city, Erdington’s recent visit passed with praise from the media for how calm and well-mannered it was and that there were no piles of dumped waste.

Once again, together as a community, we’ve shown why Erdington is such an amazing place to live.

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

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OPINION: Erdington Cllr Robert Alden, Leader of Birmingham Conservatives

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

(l-r) Cllr Gareth Moore and Cllr Robert Alden campaiging against library closures / Pic supplied by Birmingham Conservatives

Thank you to everyone who signed our petition opposing the proposed new HMO on Mason Road, we’re delighted to confirm, following our campaign, the application has been refused by the Council.

I’ve also been pushing for the Council to take enforcement action against the new chicken shop that has opened without planning permission on Mason Road.

Cllr Gareth Moore and I have been continuing our push for the Council to clean up our streets. This month we took our Conservative plan for a cleaner city, and wider amendment, to the budget meeting.

The amendment, signed off as deliverable by Council Finance officers and Commissioners, would’ve kept refuse collections weekly, scrapped Labours ‘Rat Tax’, and increased the number of street cleaners – as well as separately keeping every library including Erdington open full time. Sadly, this was rejected by the Labour Councillors.

This month the Labour Council have announced that due to their bin strike, which is now five days a week, they are not starting garden waste collections and continue to not collect recycling. Their current advice on refuse bins is to leave it out if it is not collected on your normal collection day.

We have been calling for the Council to refund residents who have paid for garden waste collections. The Council has now agreed, and a refund can be requested on their website.

We’re posting all the latest updates we have on the strike on our Facebook page, so follow us there to stay up to date.

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

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OPINION: Erdington Cllr Robert Alden, Leader of Birmingham Conservatives

Thank you to everyone who signed our petition opposing the proposed new HMO on Mason Road, we’re delighted to confirm, following our campaign, the application has been refused by the Council.

I’ve also been pushing for the Council to take enforcement action against the new chicken shop that has opened without planning permission on Mason Road.

Cllr Gareth Moore and I have been continuing our push for the Council to clean up our streets. This month we took our Conservative plan for a cleaner city, and wider amendment, to the budget meeting.

The amendment, signed off as deliverable by Council Finance officers and Commissioners, would’ve kept refuse collections weekly, scrapped Labours ‘Rat Tax’, and increased the number of street cleaners – as well as separately keeping every library including Erdington open full time. Sadly, this was rejected by the Labour Councillors.

This month the Labour Council have announced that due to their bin strike, which is now five days a week, they are not starting garden waste collections and continue to not collect recycling. Their current advice on refuse bins is to leave it out if it is not collected on your normal collection day.

We have been calling for the Council to refund residents who have paid for garden waste collections. The Council has now agreed, and a refund can be requested on their website.

We’re posting all the latest updates we have on the strike on our Facebook page, so follow us there to stay up to date.

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

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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

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OPINION: Erdington Cllr Robert Alden, Leader of Birmingham Conservatives

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

(l-r) Cllr Gareth Moore and Cllr Robert Alden at community launch of Operation Fearless at St Barnabas Church / Pic supplied by Cllr Alden

Happy New Year.

Over the last few weeks Cllr Gareth Moore and I have been meeting with officers from the police and the Council in advance of the launch of Operation Fearless to try and ensure its impact is maximised locally, for the benefit of local residents and businesses.

We also recently spoke at the launch of Operation Fearless in the second week of January, where we talked about the need for an increased police presence and tough action to make our local streets safer, about the campaigns Gareth and I have been working on over the last few years for more Police on our streets, for the reopening of the front desk at Erdington Police Station, and more officers to be based there, and for the renewal, strengthening and increased enforcement of the Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) around Erdington High Street.

Over the coming months we’ll be continuing to push the police for results from Operation Fearless to ensure it’s making a difference.

The best chance we have locally of making a difference from these increased police resources is to ensure that everyone is reporting all possible crime and anti-social behaviour that they see locally.

Even if you only have partial descriptions, please do report that information to the police or Crimestoppers so that we can ensure that Erdington is a no-go area for criminals.

We’ve also met with the NHS about the future of the North Birmingham Urgent Treatment Centre.

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

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OPINION: Erdington Cllr Robert Alden, Leader of Birmingham Conservatives

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

(l-r) Cllr Alden and Cllr Moore at Abbey Church / Pic supplied by Cllr Alden

(Ed’s note – this column was written for the Erdington Local printed edition and first published on 20.12.24)

This month we have been working with officers and the local police to drive the renewal of the Public Space Protection Order for the area around Erdington High Street and, importantly, for more enforcement of it in future.

As we reported in previous columns, the campaigning for more police action locally has resulted in additional officers for Erdington over the last few months, with hopefully more in the new year.

This is starting to pay dividends locally, with the Police teams delivering results. In the last month they have arrested 13 people on the High Street, nine have been charged so far, issued criminal behaviour orders, found 20 positive results from stop and searches and they have seized drugs off 12 people.

We’ve also been fighting to retain the North Birmingham Urgent Care Centre in Erdington since the NHS announced they were looking at closing the site on the High Street. We’ve written to them, raised concerns at the Health Scrutiny Committee and been in various press articles calling for the centre to stay open.

Over Christmas we will be meeting directors from the NHS to put forward our case for the centre staying.

Cllr Gareth Moore and I love this time of year and the wonderful events that the Erdington Community put on to celebrate Christmas. It is an honour to support as many as possible of the wonderful Christmas events local residents host, such as the one at the Abbey Church (pictured).

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year Erdington!

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

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OPINION: Erdington Cllr Robert Alden, Leader of Birmingham Conservatives

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

L-R Cllr Gareth Moore and Cllr Robert Alden outside St Barnabas Church / Pic supplied by Cllr Alden

(Ed’s note – this column was written for the Erdington Local printed edition and first published on 15.11.24)

This Remembrance Sunday Cllr Gareth Moore and myself, as we do every year, joined parishioners at St Barnabas Church for their Act of Remembrance and to lay wreaths remembering those who gave their everything so that we could all live free.

We owe so much to those who gave up their lives both during the two world wars and also in other conflicts defending freedom and democracy and we should never forget their sacrifice.

Thank you to everyone across North Birmingham who took part or organised Acts of Remembrance this year.

It is a wonderful testament to our local community here in Erdington that we still have events like Remembrance Sunday and Walk of Witness each year.

Elsewhere this month we have been continuing our campaign to try and save Erdington Library from the bankrupt Labour Council’s attempts to shut down services in suburbs like ours.

Sadly, the Council has now announced a new plan which will see Erdington Library lose a day a week opening time, without any other library in the north gaining that day.

We have been clear to the Council that Erdington Library, as a key part of our High Street and community, should remain open full time. It is a valuable resource for young and old alike helping those without internet or book access, etc to be able to do more.

We will continue to oppose the Labour Council’s slashing of our valuable local resources.

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