Planning Applications in Moseley & Kings Heath Ward that are still live– Friday 24^th January 2011

I’ve decided to change the format of my regular update of Planning Applications. Instead of just listing which I believe are contentious or of interest to residents, I am now going to list all ‘live’ planning applications. These are applications, where no decision has been made and residents can still comment on.

Drawings and further details on each of these planning application is available on-line at http://eplanning.birmingham.gov.uk/Northgate/PlanningExplorer/ApplicationSearch.aspx

If you wish to comment on any of these applications, you do this by the following means

• e-mailing to planning@birmingham.gov.uk

• telephoning (planning will accept comments on planning application over the telephone) 303 1115 – please remember to quote the planning application number you are commenting on

• post to Planning Management, Birmingham City Council, PO Box 28, Birmingham B1 1TU

The planning applications

2010/06650/PA 77 - Melton Road Moseley And Kings Heath Birmingham B14 7ET - Erection of single storey rear extension. Registered 29-11-2010

2011/00271/PA 265 - Yardley Wood Road Moseley Birmingham B13 9JL - Demolition of bungalow and erection of two detached 5 bedroom dwellings and associated parking Registered 17-01-2011

2011/00238/PA - 14 Goodby Road Moseley Birmingham B13 8NJ - Erection of single storey rear extension Registered 13-01-2011

2010/07168/PA - 1 Chestnut Road Moseley Birmingham B13 9AJ - Erection of 12 no. garages. Registered 22-12-2010

2010/06131/PA - 38 St Agnes Road Moseley Birmingham B18 9PW - Installation of replacement garage doors to front. Registered 02-11-2010

2010/07109/PA - 141 High Street Kings Heath Birmingham B14 7DG - Change of use from retail shop (A1) to betting shop (A2) Registered 20-12-2010

2011/00042/PA - 37 Melton Road Kings Heath Birmingham B14 7DA - Erection of 1 no. dormer window to front. Registered 05-01-2011

2010/07267/PA - 40 Trafalgar Road Moseley And Kings Heath Birmingham B13 8BH - Change of use from use class C2 to C3 residential dwelling, and erection of single storey rear extension Registered 29-12-2010

2010/07289/PA - 91A York Road Kings Heath Birmingham B14 7RX - Change of use from retail (Class A1) to office (Class A2) Registered 30-12-2010

2010/07258/PA - 42 Trafalgar Road Moseley Birmingham B13 8BH - Change of use from residential institution (Use Class C2) to residential dwelling house (Use Class C3) Registered 29-12-2010

2010/07249/PA - 153 High Street Kings Heath Birmingham B14 7DG - Change of use to part first floor from ancillary retail storage (use class A1) to snooker hall (use class D2) Registered 24-12-2010

2010/06358/PA - Sarehole Mill Gardens Moseley Birmingham - Retention of 3 no. detached dwellinghouses with first floor rear windows removed and associated parking Registered 12-11-2010

2010/07220/PA - 8 Greenend Road Moseley Birmingham B13 9TJ - Certificate of lawfulness for proposed development for the erection of a single storey rear extension and erection of pitched roof to existing detached garage Registered 23-12-2010

2010/07183/PA - 46 St Agnes Road Moseley Birmingham B13 9PN - Erection of single-storey rear extension Registered 22-12-2010

2010/06994/PA - 7 Coppice Road Land Adjacent Moseley Birmingham B13 9DP Erection of a 5 bedroom detached dwelling Registered 14-12-2010

2010/06557/PA - land adjacent to 107 Edgbaston Road Balsall Heath Birmingham B12 9PJ - Demolition of 6 no. garages Registered 23-11-2010

2010/06555/PA - Land adj to 107 Edgbaston Road Balsall Heath Birmingham B12 9PJ - Erection of 1 no. detached dwelling Registered 23-11-2010

2010/06888/PA - 48 Billesley Lane Moseley Birmingham B13 9QS - Replacement windows to front elevation Registered 09-12-2010

2010/06884/PA - 75 Grange Road Kings Heath Birmingham B14 7RN - Erection of single-storey rear extension Registered 09-12-2010

2010/06615/PA - 139 Russell Road Moseley Birmingham B13 8RS - Erection of single storey rear extension Registered 26-11-2010

2010/06786/PA - 8 Prospect Road Moseley Birmingham B13 9TB - Erection of single storey rear extension Registered 06-12-2010

2010/06456/PA - 201 Russell Road Moseley And Kings Heath Birmingham B13 8RR - Conservation Area Consent for demolition of existing bungalow Registered 17-11-2010

2010/06156/PA - 64 Oxford Road Moseley Birmingham B13 9SQ - Installation of replacement windows to front elevation Registered 03-11-2010

2010/05777/PA - Moseley Hall Hospital Alcester Road Moseley Birmingham B13 8JL - Erection of a perimeter fence Registered 13-10-2010

2010/06143/PA - 201 Russell Road Moseley Birmingham B13 8RR - Erection of a dwellinghouse Registered 02-11-2010

2010/06261/PA - Land 9-33 Heathfield Road Kings Heath Birmingham B14 7BT - Demolition of existing buildings, erection of 2/3 storey 56 unit extra care building including retention of locally listed building facade, communal facilities, landscaping and car parking Registered 08-11-2010

2010/06233/PA - 232 Wheelers Lane Billesley Birmingham B13 0SR - Erection of single and two storey rear, and two storey side extension, porch and canopy to front Registered 05-11-2010

2010/06125/PA - 5 Park Hill Moseley Birmingham B13 8DU Change of use from 6no. self contained flats to 2no. family dwellinghouses (house type 1: 1no. 5 bed, 8 persons house, house type 2: 1no.4bed 7 persons house). Registered 01-11-2010

2010/05923/PA - 69-71 Wake Green Road Moseley Birmingham B13 9PT Removal of condition 4 attached to previous approval E/C/17962/002 to allow occupation by persons other than those of pensionable age and provision of 11 new car parking spaces Registered 20-10-2010

2010/05487/PA - Shilpa Medical Centre 1c Ashfield Avenue Kings Heath Birmingham B14 7AT - Extension to existing buildings and conversion to 10 flats Registered 27-09-2010

2010/04782/PA - 18 Amesbury Road Moseley Birmingham B13 8LD - Erection of two storey rear and single storey side extension Registered 18-08-2010

2010/05774/PA - 145-147 Station Road Kings Heath Birmingham B14 7TA - Removal of existing office/storage building and erection of a 3 storey residential dwelling Registered 13-10-2010

2010/04473/PA - 120-126 Alcester Road Moseley Birmingham B13 8EE - Application for a new planning permission to replace an extant planning permission 2007/02961/PA in order to extend the time limit for implementation for the demolition of buildings and development of two buildings comprising of a ground floor unit fronting Alcester Road with use as A1 (Retail) and 50 residential apartments above, comprising 32 no. two bedroom units & 18 no. one bedroom units, associated access & parking Registered 04-08-2010

2010/03978/PA - 120 Alcester Road Moseley Birmingham B15 3SN - Installation of 5 no. non-illuminated advertising hoardings Registered 12-07-2010

2010/03512/PA - 100 High Street Kings Heath Birmingham B14 7JZ - Change of use from Retail (Use Class A1) to Restaurant/Cafe (Use Class A3) and installation of a new shop front and roller shutters Registered 21-06-2010

2010/02795/PA - 36 St Marys Row Moseley Birmingham B13 8JG - Installation of roller shutters to front Registered 20-05-2010

2010/02353/PA - Moseley Court Yardley Wood Road Birmingham Installation of electrnic communications Registered 30-04-2010

2009/05931/PA - Meteor Building St Mary's Row Moseley Birmingham B13 9EG - Demolition of existing car dealership buildings and its redevelopment to provide a mixed used scheme comprising a medical practice / surgery, retail food store and 14 sheltered residential apartments, together with a new access, car parking and landscaping works Registered 27-11-2009

2009/02256/PA - 92 Billesley Lane Moseley Birmingham B13 9RA - Erection of a two storey side and rear and single storey front extension to include porch. Registered 19-05-2009

2009/01429/PA - 41 Ascot Road Moseley Birmingham B13 9EN - Erection of single storey side & single storey rear and front porch extensions. Registered 30-03-2009

Update on re-opening both Moseley and Kings Heath railway stations

Network Rail has published the West Midlands & Chilterns Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS) Draft document which is presently been consulted on and will influence the timetable to when the Moseley and Kings Heath railway stations will re-open. Details of the document can be seen below.

According to the document, Network Rail wants to push the re-opening of these stations back to the year period 2019 to 2024. Prior to the publication of document we had been anticipating their re-opening occurring in during the years 2015 to 2019.

Both Centro and Birmingham City Council are in the process of responding to this document asking for this project to be included in the year period 2015 to 2019. Emily, Ernie and myself will be formally responding this week as well – again requesting for the project to be included in the year period 2015 to 2019.

In the meantime, both Centro and Birmingham City Council have designed the pair of chords required at Bordesley that would link railway services into Moor Street station from Moseley and Kings Heath, and from Castle Vale. The cost of the two chords is calculated to be £150million.

Linking any future service into Moor Street station from Moseley and Kings Heath is crucial. If these chords are not built, then any service from Moseley and Kings Heath would have to go into New Street station, which is cannot accept any more passenger services.

The RUS also mentions the creation of an alternative freight line through the West Midlands, via Worcester, Round Oak and Walsall – see page 147 of the report. The creation of this alternative freight route is important to any future passenger service at Moseley and Kings Heath railway stations. It will allow freight traffic to be taken off the Camp Hill railway line and allow a 15 minute passenger service, instead of a 20minute service. The cost of the alternative freight route is estimated to be £98million.

The West Midlands & Chilterns Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS) Draft for Consultation can be seen at http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browseDirectory.aspx?dir=\RUS%20Documents\Route%20Utilisation%20Strategies\West%20Midlands%20and%20Chilterns&pageid=4449&root=\RUS%20Documents\Route%20Utilisation%20Strategies and then click on “West Midlands and Chilterns RUS Draft for Consultation”

Consultation ends on 4 February 2011. Consultation responses can be submitted either electronically or by post to the addresses below:

westmidlandsandchilternsrus@networkrail.co.uk

West Midlands and Chilterns RUS Consultation Response
RUS Programme Manager
Network Rail
Floor 4, Kings Place
90 York Way
London
N1 9AG

The document is very detailed, but the parts that make reference to the re-opening of a passenger service on the Camp Hill line (the railway line through Moseley and Kings Heath is called the Camp Hill line) can be seen at the following pages

page 8 - "The RUS recognises the work being developed by Centro to connect the Camp Hill lines with Birmingham Moor Street. This development would facilitate aspirations to introduce new stations along the route which would help to address wider transport requirements in the West Midlands."

page 147 - "support the Camp Hill Chords scheme - support potential new services on the Camp Hill and Tamworth line". This page outlines the relaying of the creation of an alternative freight (alternative to the Camp Hill line) through Worcester to Round Oak to Walsall. This alternative freight line is crucial, along with the Camp Hill chords, to getting a regular passenger service on the Camp Hill line.

page 155 - "One option being developed is to connect the Camp Hill lines with Birmingham Moor Street, with new station proposals at Hazelwell, Kings Heath and Moseley. " Disappointingly, this proposal is now in capital period 2019 to 2024.

Update on Moseley Road baths – 14^th January 2011

At the moment Moseley Road baths is temporarily closed

. Background to this closure can be read at http://martinmullaney.blogspot.com/2010/12/update-on-moseley-road-baths-rumours.html

This morning I attended a meeting with Technical Services and the Health and Safety team at Moseley Road baths.

I’ve attach a number of photos which help illustrate in greater detail the technical issues about replacing the metal lintel above the fire exit door to Pool 2.

Photo 1 –shows the fire exit that is causing the problem. It was cut through this wall at the start of the Second World War when Pool 2 was used as a make-shift hospital in the early part of the war. The pool was boarded over and used to house any casualties after nearby bombing. The fire exit is so wide, so as to get hospital beds, with patients, in and out.

At the moment, the fire exit is used as the disabled access to the pool. Talking to Health and Safety, this exit could be significantly reduced in width and still allow disabled access.

Photo 2 – this is a close-up of the fire exit and shows the location of the lintel above the door. The objective of any lintel is to carry the weight of the wall above the door. In this case the lintel is also holding up a major load bearing pillar that carries the weight of the roof.

The lintel is hidden behind the tilework inside the baths, and by brickwork on the outside of the building. The lintel consists of three steel beams – in cross-section they resemble a capital ‘I’ – resting side by side.

At todays meeting I could see the exposed base of each steel beam and I could clearly see the heavy corrosion. The corrosion has been caused by the chlorine in the pool, which in the humid atmosphere converts into hydrochloric acid. At some points of the base of these beams, I was able to take off flaks of corroded metal.

The present lintel beams were installed about 10 years ago

Photo 3 – shows the pillar that carries the load of the roof above the lintel. It is the presence of this pillar that makes the replacement of the lintel beams so expensive.

Photo 4 – shows the external view of the fire exit.

Photo 5 – is a close-up of a crack emanating from the fire exit. It is thought that this is due to one of the lintels twisting from its original position. Unfortunately, it appears that when the steel beams, that make up the lintel, where installed ten years ago, they were rested on a bed of mortar. They should have instead been rested on a bed of slate, since mortar would not be able to take the pressure of such heavily loaded beams. As a result at least one of the lintels has moved.

The outcome of todays meeting, is that there will be an in-depth inspection of this lintels on Friday 21^st January – the engineer is on holiday until then. Some of the tiles and external brickwork will be removed so that the main body of the steel beams can be examined.

The condition of the main body of these steel beams will dictate the complexity and cost of the replacement or repair of this lintel.

If the lintels need complete replacement, then a complex steel frame will have be constructed to take the weight of the main pillar. This is where time and expensive will come into play.

I should know the outcome of the further examination towards the 28^th January.

In the meantime, the water in pool 2 is being maintained on a slow circulation. This is so as to stop the tile grout inside the pool drying out and possibly cracking, plus it maintains the sand filters.

A combination of pool staff, constituency staff and officers from my cabinet portfolio are pulling together the financial figures for the business case, so as to release the £55k maximum required to repair this lintel.

Update on Kings Heath Library temporary closure – 14^th January 2011

At the moment Kings Heath Library is temporarily closed. The background to this closure can be read at

http://martinmullaney.blogspot.com/2010/12/update-on-kings-heath-library-temporary.html

and at

http://martinmullaney.blogspot.com/2011/01/update-on-kings-heath-library-temporary.html

I attended this morning a Pre-Contract meeting with Council Officers and the contractor who will be installing the permanent scaffolding.

The contractors will start their work on Monday 24^th January and will finish on Friday 25^th January.

The library will re-open on Monday 28^th February.

Update on refuse collection – Thursday 13th January

As you will have seen from the local media the industrial dispute by our permanent refuse collectors has been suspended. This includes the ‘work to rule’ or ‘go slow’ and the overtime ban. More talks between trade unions and the Councils team continue next Tuesday.

I’ve just been updated by our Waste Management team as to what will be happening to clear the domestic rubbish and recycling backlog.

The proposal on domestic rubbish is to have ALL black bags collected by 5pm tomorrow (Friday)

The proposal on recycling materials is to have them ALL collected by 5pm Sunday. Both permanent and casual workforces will be working over the weekend.

I’ll be driving around the Ward between 1pm and 2pm tomorrow afternoon noting down any roads with uncollected black bags. Please e-mail me during this time if your domestic rubbish in Moseley and Kings Heath Ward hasn’t been collected

I’ll be driving around the Ward over the weekend spotting any uncollected recycling material. Again please e-mail at noon Saturday and noon Sunday if your recycling rubbish hasn’t been collected.

Refuse strike called off

I've just been notified of the following:

A proposed agreement has today been reached between Birmingham City Council and the Trades Unions which will see the suspension of the industrial action currently affecting the city’s refuse collection services.

Subject to agreement by union membership, this means the half-day strikes which were due to take place tomorrow (Thursday 13th) and Friday (14th January) will now not take place.

The announcement follows two days of intensive talks between the two parties hosted by the City Council.

Cllr Alan Rudge, Cabinet Member for Equalities and Human Resources, said: “Following two days of very constructive talks I am delighted that we have been able to reach agreement which will see the action suspended and provide an opportunity for us to continue holding further discussions with a view to reaching a permanent solution.

“I appreciate that management and the Trades Unions have worked very hard and shown much goodwill in coming to this agreement, and on behalf of one million citizens of the city wish to offer all involved my thanks.”

Cllr Timothy Huxtable, Cabinet Member for Transportation and Regeneration, said: “With the action suspended our number one priority remains clearing any backlog and returning the service and city to normal as soon as possible.

“I would like to thank the people of Birmingham for their efforts in helping us to get through this difficult situation, and apologise for the inconvenience it has caused.”

Both the regular and casual workforces will continue to be deployed to help catch up with outstanding waste and recycling collections.

Update on refuse strike – Tuesday 11th January

I attach a map of Moseley and Kings Heath Ward showing where black bin bags still need collecting as of 5pm this evening.

As you will see from the map, the permanent refuse collectors collected only half of the roads in north Moseley that there were supposed to do today. These roads will be cleared tomorrow by our casual crew.

I’ve asked if we can in addition to the north Moseley roads if we can clear the following tomorrow.

Rear of Queens Avenue, off Heathfield Road. There’s a narrow alley next to the Reupholstery shop

Torridon Croft

Stanley Place, off St Marys Row

Church Avenue, off St Marys Row (some bags are left in the alleyway to the rear of the properties)

To illustrate the ‘go slow’ by the permanent refuse workers:

Prior to the ‘work to rule’ beginning 20^th December, each crew of permanent workers averaged a daily collection of 20.95 tonnes per crew

With the ‘work to rule’ (ie now), each crew of permanent workers averaged a daily collection of 13.59 tonnes per crew.

The 19 ‘casual’ crews were averaging 26.7 tonnes per crew after only one week OR the casual crews were collecting 27% more after one week of operation than the permanent refuse ever achieved prior to the strike.

As I have said in previous up dates, any crews showing a significant drop in collection rates, taking into account sickness, are having their wages reduced accordingly.

Update on refuse strike – Monday 10th January

I attach a map of Moseley and Kings Heath Ward showing where black bin bags still need collecting as of 5pm this evening.

As you will see from the map, we have nearly cleared all the black bin bags from the Ward.

I’ve asked if we can at least clear the following tomorrow.

Wheelers Lane, between Barn Lane and Brook Lane
Howard Road East
Rear of Queens Avenue, off Heathfield Road. There’s a narrow alley next to the Reupholstery shop

Update on refuse strike – Sunday 8th January

I attach a map of Moseley and Kings Heath Ward showing where black bin bags still need collecting as of 5pm this evening.

Both Councillor Ernie Hendricks and myself have spent yesterday and today driving around the Ward producing different versions of this map, so that our casual refuse workers were directed to where the rubbish needed collecting most.

The objective of the weekends work was to (a) remove all black sacks of rubbish from any roads that have not been collected since Christmas (b) remove all other black sacks of rubbish.

As you will see from the map, we failed on both counts, despite a Herculean effort.

The casual crews will continue collecting tomorrow and I’ve asked them to focus on the following roads.

Caroline Road, Augusta Road East, Edgbaston Road East, Park Road

Alcester Road (east side only) between Hillcrest Road and Queensbridge Road - there are several large piles of rubbish along here

Grange Road, Bank Street, Station Road (between Avenue Road and Highbury Road), Highbury Road (between Station Road and Grange Road)

Springfield Road (between Gaddesby Road and Addison Road), Barn Lane, Wheelers Lane

Clarence Road (between Billesley Lane and Cambridge Road

Update on refuse strike – Friday 7^th January

Below is a briefing note sent today to all Councillors, providing background on the present industrial action.

As you will see in this briefing note below we have in the last week increased the number of ‘casual’ crews from 19 to 30. The present number of permanent crews is 40.

The casual crews will be working over the weekend to clear all black bin bags from the streets of Birmingham by Sunday evening.

I will be providing regular updates to the Waste Management team over the weekend as to what roads need collecting in Moseley and Kings Heath Ward. Please feel free to forward any information to me if your road has not been collected by Saturday evening, OR has just been collected, so I can mark it off my list.

If you are aware of any elderly residents who can not get their bin bags to the pavement, please let me know. Either myself or the casual crew will arrange to get their bin bags to the pavement.

The briefing note is as follows:

Fleet and Waste Management Industrial Dispute
Members Briefing 7th January 2011

1. Recovery Plan.

1.1 Against a background of severe weather, seasonal waste and industrial action Fleet and Waste Management developed a plan to deal with the build up and backlog of waste in the City. This involves:

· Fleet and Waste Management working towards a situation where by the close of play at the weekend, every household will have had at least one collection since Christmas, and the normal collection services will resume on the Monday, supported by the casual crew dealing with the impact of the ongoing industrial action by picking up any uncollected waste the following day.

· The Councils permanent employees on normal working days should be completing scheduled work - any waste uncollected, due to volume and industrial action will be collected as soon as possible, by casual crews. In the event that the permanent workforce, do not perform their expected duties in full, a reduction of pay is being made to reflect the work actually done.

· The casual workforce has been collecting black bags since Monday 27th December 2010 and their productivity has been good compared with the regular crews who are on a go slow and being selective about what they leave undone. Work is ongoing to increase the casual workforce, and the Council can now deploy up to 30 vehicles and crews this weekend.

· Where legal to do so a range of contractors have been employed particularly Skip Hire Vehicles to Remove black bags from high and low rise flats from 30th December 2010.

· Where practicable agency staff crews have been formed to separate them from regular crews who are involved in industrial action and not completing scheduled work.

· Staff from other services within the Council are co-operating by identifying missed work. This weekend will see a significant deployment of Housing, Parks and Highways staff to assist in the clear up work.

1.2 The amount of waste collected so far, since Christmas is now broadly comparable with the amount of waste collected for a similar period last year, when there was no industrial action and bank holidays were worked.

1.3 The Trade Unions have announced further strikes on the 13th and 14th January 2011, we have to be prepared for the possibility that sickness levels will continue to rise and the workforce will become more uncooperative, and attempt to leave more waste out on each of the days they do actually provide a collection service.

1.4 The casual workforce will continue to operate for the duration of the industrial action.

1.5 Please note that agency staff on street cleansing have been used to collect fly tipped rubbish but for legal reasons we are not using them to provide cover for the regular refuse collection work.

Background

Impact of the Action.

The Strike action on the 20th December was intended to impact upon collection services delivered on Monday 20th December and when followed by the overtime ban for the two succeeding bank holiday Mondays, to ensure that there would be no collection for those residents who normally receive a collection on a Monday until the 10th January 2011.

The overtime ban was also intended to prevent any collections on Tuesday the 28th December 2010.

The work to rule and overtime ban has meant that because many staff in Fleet and Waste Management work a 5fth shift on their rest days that this would reduce the available workforce by 20%. This action has an equivalent impact to a full one day strike per week.

Furthermore as part of the work to rule, it is clear that the workforce are not performing their full range of duties, and in fact are effectively operating a ‘Go Slow’. Furthermore the level of absenteeism has almost doubled since the start of the work to rule, and this is having an impact on the amount of waste being collected by the regular crews. The result of this is that the amount of waste collected by the regular workforce is considerably less than can be reasonably expected, and is having almost as much impact as an additional days strike action.

Severe Weather and seasonal waste

The severe weather impacted from 18th – 27th December and significantly affected some collection rounds and in common with other Authorities very little waste being collected across all 5 days before Christmas. The Council was only able to access main roads, due to the compacted snow and ice, and the difficulties of driving 26 tonne vehicles slow moving through narrow streets.

The Christmas period sees an annual increase in waste of 30%; this is normally dealt with via offers of overtime payments to the crews and bank holiday working. This offer of bank holiday working would have seen crews earn triple time (Circa £30 per hour) plus 3 hours overtime per day for two weeks. This offer was refused by regular crews. Therefore those residents due a bank holiday collection did not receive one from the regular crews.

Update on Kings Heath Library temporary closure – 7^th January 2011

At the moment Kings Heath Library is temporarily closed. The background to this closure can be read at http://martinmullaney.blogspot.com/2010/12/update-on-kings-heath-library-temporary.html

Work to install the permanent scaffolding, which will allow the library to re-open, will begin within 2 weeks of time of writing. It is calculated that the time required to install the permanent scaffolding will take 4 to 6 weeks. We therefore hope to get Kings Heath Library re-opened by the end of February.

The permanent scaffolding will be the equivalent of inserting a false ceiling, albeit with greater structural strength, which will stretch from wall to wall, with none of the current ugly vertical scaffolding that current blight the library. Artificial lighting will also be needed.

I have made enquiries about the possibility of re-opening the library for the next two weeks prior to the contractors coming on-site. Unfortunately, this is not possible, since there are concerns that if any of the skylights collapsed, then the resulting debri created would injury anyone in the library below. The permanent scaffolding structure is being designed in case any skylight collapses, with ‘wells’ to contain any debri.

Long term, our aim is to replace the skylights with exact replicas. The earliest we are likely to get the roof and skylights repaired is 2012. This is due to a massive financial pressure next year of £1.8million required to strip the Sutton Coldfield library building of asbestos by December 2011

Update on refuse strike – Thursday 6^th January

As you are aware, the city’s refuse collections, both domestic and commercial, have been impacted by a ‘work-to-rule’ and ‘overtime ban’ by the permanent refuse crews.

The permanent refuse crews are supposed to still working normally during the day. However, having driven around two of their rounds in Moseley this week: Wednesday round (this covers Russell Road, Moor Green Lane, Redding Road, Leighton Road, Tudor Road, Farqhuar Road) and the Thursday round (this covers Salisbury Road, Chantry Road, Park Hill, Augusta Road East), it is quite clear to me that they are picking up very little. Alternatively, they are randomly choosing to pick up rubbish from small sections of each road and ensuring that each road has at last some black bags along their entire length.

We do have a ‘casual workforce’ who are shadowing the rounds of permanent refuse workers. However, from my own observations, the permanent refuse crews are leaving so much uncollected rubbish that the casual crews are struggling to keep up.

Can I add that the Council is monitoring the tonnage collected by both the permanent crews and docking wages where there has been a significant reduction in tonnage collected by the permanent staff, compared to prior to the industrial action – we are taking into account any absenteeism within crews when calculating any reduction in tonnage.

My update tonight from waste management is that the casual crews will be in north Moseley tomorrow (Friday) collecting missed collections from Tuesday on the following roads:

Mayfield road

Top end of Anderton Park Road

Forest Road

Trafalgar Road and all the cul-de-sacs off it

One side of Church Road.

Our casual crews will be working Saturday and Sunday and the Waste Management team are assuming us that all domestic waste across Birmingham will be collected by end of play on Sunday.

Update on refuse strike – Wednesday 5^th January

As you are most likely aware, the city’s refuse collections, both domestic and commercial, have been impacted by a ‘work-to-rule’ and ‘overtime ban’ by the refuse crews.

In response to this a ‘casual workforce’ has been recruited to cope with any reduction in refuse collection. What we are finding is that random roads and sections of roads are not being collected by the ‘permanent’ refuse workers in their normal rounds. For example last Friday, three quarters of the Friday domestic ‘black bin bag’ refuse round in Moseley and Kings Heath Ward was not collected; hardly any of the recycling round was touched.

The Council is monitoring the tonnage collected by both the permanent and casual refuse crews. Wages are being docked where there has been a significant reduction in tonnage collected by the permanent staff, compared to prior to the industrial action – we are taking into account any absenteeism within crews when calculating any reduction in tonnage.

The casual crews have been operating for a week and are already exceeding by over 40% the daily tonnage collected by the permanent staff prior to the industrial action.

For example on Friday 31^st December

19 ‘casual’ crews picked up 508 tonnes, or 26.7 tonnes per crew

40 ‘permanent’ crews picked up 726.5 tonnes, or 18.1 tonnes per crew

At time of writing, the casual crews are in Moseley and Kings Heath Ward collecting any missed collections from last Friday.

Tomorrow the casual crews will be in north Moseley, collecting any missed collection by yesterdays (Tuesday) round. The following roads were not collected for black bin sacks:

Mayfield road
Top end of Anderton Park Road
Forest Road
Trafalgar Road and all the cul-de-sacs off it
One side of Church Road.

Our casual crews are now working seven days a week and our aim is to get to the point on Sunday, where our casual crews will collect missed collections the following day after the permanent crew.

I’m doing a daily drive around of the collection routes to identify any missed roads for the casual crew to pick up.

If you road has not had its black sacks picked up by 12noon by its normal permanent refuse round, please inform me. This way we’ll be able to send out the permanent crew out again on the same day.

With regards to recycling collections, these will be eventually be picked up. However, our current focus is on catching up with our black bin bag collection round.

Update on refuse strike – Saturday 1^st January

I’ve been down this morning to the ‘casual workforce’ depot in Bordesley Green, to get a idea of which roads in Moseley and Kings Heath Ward they will be collecting from over this weekend.

Having looked at their maps, I can confirm that they are focusing today on the north Moseley area around Church Road, Kingswood Road, Trafalgar Road, Anderton Park Road and Belle Walk. Having driven around this patch last night, Kingswood Road is suffering particularly badly from uncollected rubbish.

I will have a drive around later today to see if any bits have been missed. Plus I intend to visit the depot again tomorrow morning for another update..

The managers at the depot are aiming to get rid of the city’s backlog on uncollected rubbish by Friday 7^th January.