www.24carrots.org.uk

The next farmers’ market is on Saturday 21 November.

This is organised by members of the Jewellery Quarter Neighbourhood Forum.

Click here to find where it all happens.

Take a look at the 24carrots web site for a video, photos and more information.

Your intrepid reporter braved the pouring rain this evening to go and visit it on opening night…

It has to be said that this evening it was so extremely wet that peoples enthusiasm got a little dampened too, and crowds looked smaller than usual….so we will just have to make up for that in the remaining weeks up until Christmas! The market itself looks bigger than ever, stretching further down New Street. Many popular stalls are back, and there are a few new ones too. I have had my first frankfurter hot-dog of the season (they are compulsory aren’t they?) No doubt I’ll be back for many more visits ….some garlic bread next time I think.

Karen Caine

An excellent chair and panel made a great success of the Birmingham City Centre Neighbourhood Forum’s Question Time style event this evening. We would like to thank them all very much for coming along to the Town Hall and making this such an interesting debate!

From left to right we have:

• from UKIP, Derek Bennett, PA to Mike Nattrass who is UKIP MEP for the West Midlands
• from the Liberal Democrats, Cllr Ayoub Khan, our parliamentary candidate
• our chair, Jenny Inglis, City Centre Director
• from Labour, Shabana Mahmood, our parliamentary candidate
• from the Conservatives, Cllr Colin Hughes, our parliamentary candidate

Question topics included

• parking – and what should you be able to do if it stops you from accessing your own garage?
• are public planning consultations a box ticking exercise, and if so how can we change this?
• how to balance the right to free speech against the risk of violent disturbances?
• what can we do about the ‘chewing gum ramp’ from New Street….astonishingly left in place in the New Street Station redevelopment plans!
• how can we help city centre residents, many of them in new buildings, develop real communities?

Thanks also to our local councillors Carl Rice and Kath Hartley for joining us.

And finally, thanks to our fellow City Centre Residents who came along and participated, we hope you enjoyed it.

We took some video clips…so watch this space if you regret missing the meeting (and if you did miss it, you should regret it!) We will add more information shortly.

Karen Caine

Please come to our Question Time style event on Monday 9th November 2009 at 7pm in the Town Hall, Victoria Square. The City Centre Neighbourhood Forum is arranging this opportunity to allow you to ask questions of your local politicians and political candidates.

Jenny Inglis, City Centre Director, has kindly offered to Chair the meeting.

So if you would like to ask questions about issues specific to our city centre area, and find out what the parties think, this is your chance!

Panelists so far are:

• from Labour, Cllr Carl Rice, Ladywood Ward councillor standing for re-election in 2010; the parliamentary candidate, Shabana Mahmood, is trying to rearrange her shedule to attend part of the event;
• from the Liberal Democrats, Cllr Ayoub Khan, the parliamentary candidate;
• from the Conservatives, Colin Hughes, the parliamentary candidate;
• from UKIP, Derek Bennett, PA to Mike Nattrass who is UKIP MEP for the West Midlands;

The Green Party are also invited.

This promises to be a rare opportunity to ask your questions of those seeking your vote in forthcoming elections.

Do come along and please tell your friends!

In order to help us organise, please email us below to let us know if you plan to attend, and to suggest a question you would like to ask.

We look forward to seeing you there!

There was a public meeting held by the Birmingham Council Planning Comittee on Monday last 19 October at the Council House to hear the views of Ladywood residents on the proposed Aquatics and Leisure Complex off St Vincents street (opposite the NIA, just round the corner from the end of Sheepcote street) …..

The background is that the Ladywood (Labour unanimous) Councillors strongly oppose the ruling Conservative/Lib Dem Council on the siting of the complex, as they have declared on their recently distributed leaflet.

I attended the meeting, and I heard very similar views from all present. Those who stood up and spoke were largely representatives of Resident Associations and Groups from Ladywood and Neighbourhood Forum members plus Councillors Carl Rice and Kath Hartley. At least one was from an adjacent Neighbourhood Forum.

The basic opinion, which seemed to me to be pretty unanimous, was that the complex was a superb thing for Ladywood and will enhance the area and the lives of local residents as well as those of adjacent neighbourhoods and probably the whole of Birmingham and the West Midlands and the UK.

Also what seemed to be in common agreement was that the siting of the complex is not right. This, I recall,  was mainly stated as being the lack of transport facilities and the current overload of the roads by cars and coaches and their need to park in the area. The extra parking need generated is proposed  to be absorbed within current NIA car parks. Many speakers reported that there were already major problems in coping with the current demand. This overload could especially be the case when there are simultaneous events at the NIA and complex both of which can have events at any time of the day; the traffic therefore may sometimes be additive.

The preferred site of most speakers seemed to be the current Ladywood Arts and Leisure Centre on Ladywood Middleway. The speakers reckoned that the road links and capacity for parking are much better at this site.

I do not recall any speakers actively supporting the officially proposed siting, only encouragement that the complex development should proceed as soon as possible.

The above description is my recollection only and could be inaccurate or not representative. I have tried to be neutral in this. Please bear in mind that the Labour Councillors have advertised aggresively by leaflet to residents in the Ladywood ward about their opposition to the siting and so the audience could be so inclined. Nevertheless views have been expressed by interested parties and hopefully will contribute to a balanced view by the Planning Committee.

The meeting was conducted in the following manner. The Planning Committee sat in front of the audience. The spokesman for the Committee asked each speaker to provide their name and address. The speakers then gave their views, then sat down. There was no response from the Planning Committee. After all speakers had delivered their views the meeting was declared closed.

So, on the face of  it the audience were able to express their views “publicly” for consideration by the planning committee.

Geoff Caine

You can read the latest news from the Big City Plan team in their Autumn 2009 newsletter.

Click on the BCP website link here to download it.

As we reported yesterday, Birmingham city centre’s entry in the Urban Communities category of 2009 Britain in Bloom won Gold and ‘Best in Category’.

The judges’ summarised their assessment of our entry:-

“This large Urban City Centre has become a place of horticultural excellence and an area used by the many residents who now reside within the Centre. This was amply demonstrated by members of the community and school children who take part and enjoy the facilities provided.

Floral displays and features were outstanding along with excellent sustainable planting and the quality of maintenance was generally superb. Heritage plays an important part, particularly in the canal area and also in the recognition of local historical figures such as Matthew Boulton.
There were many innovative ideas and we (i.e. the judges) enjoyed a well conducted, interesting and informative tour.”

There’s was lots more detail, too, including some useful ideas for improving further. Informally, the judges also revealed that we were ‘miles ahead’ of our competition in the category (including Manchester City Centre)!

Together with the news about the Staffordshire hoard, what a couple of days for Birmingham!!

David Foster
(Chair, City Centre Neighbourhood Forum)

A Public Meeting organised by the Resilience Group in Birmingham City Council.

Please book a place by emailing info@birminghamprepared.gov.uk , if possible by 25th September.

Find out more about Resilience and Emergency Planning in Birmingham as a whole at http://birminghamprepared.gov.uk .

I work part time for the Resilience team – generally evenings and weekends. I have been asked to help organise this meeting because the needs of city centre residents like ourselves can be somewhat different from the rest of the city, and we want you to help us make sure we are thinking along the right lines. In addition we hope you would pick up tips about ways to help yourself, family and friends, and learn about what the resilience team does.

I hope I will get chance to meet you there!

Karen Caine

The Neighbourhood Forum wrote to the Birmingham Post recently, protesting at the inadequate attention paid by the police to the need of residents. Here is a copy of the letters page on which the Post printed it:

So top billing on the letters page that day!

We hope you have been enjoying Artsfest 2009 this weekend.

Artsfest 2009

You can see some more of my Saturday night concert and firework photos here. I enjoyed the evening, but some people were complaining that the music wasn’t popular enough, or upbeat enough, for such a varied public audience. Why not tell us about your experiences, or link to show people your photos or videos of the event.

Karen Caine