Councillor walkabout of Moseley (from my house in Southlands Road to Woodstock Road and back) – Tuesday 21st March 2006

Graffiti – Councillor Request mu01146 raised for item 1. Councillor Request mu01145 raised for item 2.
1) White wall of garage to the rear of 2 Queenswood Road needs painting over – covered in tags
2) several graffiti tags ‘UTS’ on wooden fence to the side of 1 Queenswood Road

Bin bags on pavement – Councillor Request mu01146 raised
3) Advance bin bag on grass verge in front of xxx Billesley Lane
4) Advanced bin bag in front of xxx Belle Walk Large domestic furniture items in front gardens – Councillor Request mu01146 raised
5) Mattress and sofa in front garden of 71 Church Road

Section 4 notice required on property to remove litter/rubbish that attracts rats or provides them with a place to nest – Councillor Request mu01146 raised
6) rotting rubbish in driveway of 104 Church road

Unnessary road signs
7) Yellow ‘Academy’ sign on lamp post on Billesley Lane, at its junction with Wake Green Road – this should have been removed on the 23rd February 2006 – chase up to letter to Councillor Request mu00979 issued
8) ‘New Road Layout Ahead’ on lamp post in front of 50 Wake Green Road – chase up to letter to Councillor Request mu00979 issued
9) yellow ‘Laing homes’ sign on lamp post in central pedestrian refuge in front of 5 Wake Green Road. – this should have been removed on the 23rd February 2006 – chase up to letter to Councillor Request mu00979 issued

Miscellaneous items Councillor Request mu01147 raised for items 10 to 14.
10) grass verge needs tidying up in front of 108 Billesley Lane. Tree was removed after being blown over in July Tornado – there is just a large dirt mound – needs flattening at the minimum.
11) grass verge needs repair in front of xxx Billesley Lane. Resident is using grass verge as a driveway to gain access to front garden. Grass verge is now a muddy quagmire.
12) Holly bush in front garden of xxx Church Road needs trimming back – it is obstructing the pavement at head height.
13) Collapse front wall obstructing the pavement in front of 8a Wake Green Road
14) grass verge in front of xxx and xxx School Road needs making good after lorries have driven over it to access building work at the above properties. Can the owners of the above properties be contacted and told to repair grass verge?
15) Does the new Academy housing estate have permission for the 8 foot high gate pillars on its Wake Green Road entrance – they look out of character. - Councillor Request mu01148 raised
16) water switch access cover missing in pavement across the road from 105 Woodstock Road - Councillor Request mu01149 raised
17) telephone box at the corner of Southlands Road and Billesley Lane has had a number of glass panes and metal glazing bars kicked out - Councillor Request mu01150 raised
18) fences to the rear of 4 and 6 Woodstock Road are still down after the July tornado – Focus Housing informed
19) fence to the side of 2 Woodstock Road is still down after the July tornado – Focus Housing informed
20) abandoned car in the rear garden of 2 Woodstock Road – Focus Housing informed
21) Accumulation of rubbish in the rear garden of 27 Church Road – Midland Area Housing informed

Martin Mullaney(0121) 689 4372

Update on the Conservation Survey of Moseley Road baths – 3rd March 2006

Work on the Conservation Survey of Moseley Road baths, Balsall Heath has begun. The survey
is a pre-requisite of any Heritage Lottery Fund bid.

The Conservation Survey is costing £250,000 and is looking at both swimming pools and the library.

The whole survey is timetabled to finish in December 2006 and will be in a format ready to be presented to the Heritage Lottery Fund as a bid.

We have negotiated with the Heritage Lottery Fund to provide some flexibility on when the bid needs to be in. This is so that we can use the £1million already spent on emergency works to the baths as match funding. Previously, the HLF wanted the bid in by October 2006, but they have now agreed to move that date to the end of the calendar year.

Rodney Melville and Partners of Leamington Spa are doing the Conservation Survey work. They are at present doing the historical research element looking at how important the buildings are on a national context.

Another company is presently creating detailed drawings of the building complex.

Rodney Melville and Partners will start the on-site work in mid April – this is when they will look at the fabric condition of the building and calculate the costs of repair.

At the rear of the building, the Primary Care Trust is in the process of looking at demolishing and rebuilding the surgery as part of the LIFT programme. The PCT have looked at the possibility of re-locating the surgery into the 3 storey boiler house, but think the cost of renovation would be too high. However, they want to work with the Council so that the problems of access and car parking at the rear of the baths can be designed into the new surgery layout.

Explanation for the yellow bands on the lamp posts on Alcester Road

I've been asked by several residents why all the lamp posts and signage posts have recently had yellow bands painted on all of them at eye level. The reason is as follows:

All the lamp posts and signage posts along the A435 have been repainted - this is part of a programme to repaint all posts along the arterial roads of Birmingham. This is so as to improve the street scene. From the condition of the paint on them, I guess this is the first lick of paint they have had for over 15 years.

As part of the new Council standards for street posts, yellow bands have been put on all the posts at eye level. These are so that visually impaired people can see them and not bump into them.

The pseudo-victorian lamp posts in Moseley centre do not have these yellow bands, since they already have silver coloured banding on them.

three vacant properties in Moseley - update

Update on three high profile properties in Moseley, namely:
1) 128 to 130 Anderton Park Road - former part of Sorrento hospital
2) 5 Oxford Road
3) 33 and 35 Cotton Lane

1) 128 and 130 Anderton Park Road. These are two large victorian properties, which as a Councillor I get regular members of the public asking me what is happening with them. This is exercerbated by the fact they look a vandalised eyesore - with smashed windows and dumped rubbish in the frontage.

The properties are owned by the next door neighbour at 132 Anderton Park Road and the Council's Officers have for some considerable time being trying to persuade the owner to either get them re-occupied or sold.

The Council were planning to issue a Section 215 notice on the owner last August to force them to tidy the property up. However, the property was badly damaged by the tornado and it was felt that the owner needed time to remove this tornado damage. This has not been done and the property is in the same condition as it was on the 29th July 2005.

Political pressure is being now put on the Planning Department to serve the section 215 notice.

The owner has promised to re-erect the permeter fence, which has been down since the tornado and which has allowed significant dumping to occur on the site. The Council are now removing this dumped rubbish.

Finance is being pulled together to start the compulsory purchasing process of this property.
2) 5 Oxford Road is a wonderful art and crafts building that has been empty since the owner died and the ownership of the property is stuck in the middle of probate. Council officers have now issued warnings that they want this probate resolved asap otherwise compulsory purchase action will take place.

Officers have contacted the relatives and the police to say that we want the person who is living in the car in the front garden removed.

3) Number's 33 & 35 Cotton Lane are long term void 1930's semi-detached property in a very attractive part of Moseley. Number 35 is currently undergoing work and should bereoccupied as soon as completed.No 33 Cotton Lane is going on the market this year once all legalities are out of the way.