Questions for Transportation and Street Services – 22nd May 2006

As the new Scrutiny Chair for Transportation and Street Services, I’ll be meeting Senior Council Officers on a regular basis. These meetings will be an opportunity to ask questions about Council policy – and hopefully change it for the better.

The list of questions that I will be initially raising is as follows. Are there any that you would like me to raise? I will provide feedback on the responses I am given.

Street Services
What is the timetable for the roll out of doorstep recycling in south Birmingham?

What are we doing to monitor the performance of the Birmingham Call Centre? I get regular complaints from residents saying that they keep telephoning the call centre about non-delivery of bin bags and still don’t get them

Do we actually collect statistics on refuse on a Ward-by-Ward basis? Could we start doing that?

Could we have a scheme where graffiti is removed off brickwork without the need for prior permission from the owner? This is a particular nuisance with empty shops or abandoned houses where the Council insists the non-existent owner must sign a form to allow the graffiti to be removed.


Transportation
What is happening with reducing the cost of installing dropped kerbs to allow parking in front gardens?

What is happening with providing funds to allow one residents parking scheme per Ward per Year? At the moment it is only one residents parking scheme per District per year.

Why can’t Councillors be provided with a Ward map showing where road accidents have happened over the last 5 years? This would allow Councillors to prioritize traffic calming measures, if any.

What are we doing to make it easier to install mobile CCTV cameras on lampposts? At the moment the Highways Department insist that any lamp post that is to have a rapid response mobile CCTV has to be first individually tested to ensure the lamp post will not topple over. They then charge an exorbitant rate to put the camera on and off the lamppost.

What are we doing to make it easier and quicker to change Traffic Regulation Orders?

When is the Highways Department going to start removing Advertising A-boards that clutter our High Streets? Other Councils do this, but Birmingham Highways Department refuses to do so.