Moseley and Kings Heath Labour Councillors lose £12,000 of Kings Heath money

Moseley and Kings Heath Labour Councillors lose £12,000 of Kings Heath money

This afternoon, Moseley and Kings Heath Labour Councillors have allowed £12,000 that had been identified last March to do a Kings Heath consultation to go to another part of Birmingham. 

The £12,000 had been allocated, after lobbying from myself, from the Local Improvement Budget to consult on whether local residents wanted the following:

• The ‘no entry’ sign to Drayton Road retained after 26th April 2013 – the present ‘no entry’ sign is only for 12 months (funded by St Dunstan’s School) and will have to be removed after 26th April 2013. 
• Support Institute Road being made one-way from Springfield Road to Goldsmith Road 
• Cyclists to be given permission to ignore the Drayton Road ‘no entry’ sign and be allowed to cycle contra-flow to the proposed one-way system in Institute Road. 

The £12k was only to do a consultation – nothing more. A final decision would be made based on the findings of the consultation. The consultation was going to include neighbouring roads and the letters were ready to go out at the start of May. The additional £6k to make the one-way sign permanent and implement the one-way system in Institute Road, if supported, would have come from the local Community Chest. 

The new incoming Labour administration in May suspended the consultation with immediate effect. At todays Cabinet meeting it was agreed by the Labour Cabinet that the £12k would be handed back to the corporate centre, instead of being re-allocated to another part of Kings Heath.

The ‘no entry’ sign on Drayton Road was installed to stop the traffic jams caused at school opening and closing times at the Drayton Road entrance to St Dunstans Primary School. 80% of the traffic at these times flows from Goldsmith Road towards Alcester Road South. Chaos ensues whenever a wide-bodied vehicle (eg a refuse truck or a lorry from the Pear Tree pub) travels from Alcester Road South towards Goldsmith Road. Drayton Road is not wide enough to allow smooth flowing two way traffic and when the wide bodied vehicle and the opposite-direction flow of parents in cars meet, all hell breaks lose. The cars try reversing back up Drayton Road, but more cars flowing into Drayton Road from Goldsmith Road add to the confusion. It gets even worse when two wide-bodied vehicles each driving in the opposite direction meet in Drayton Road

The ‘no entry’ signs were funded for a 12 month period by St Dunstans Primary School. To make them permanent would require formal consultation with the residents and this £12k would partly pay for this consultation.

The ‘one way’ system in Institute Road, from Springfield Road to Goldsmith Road, is something the Institute Road residents have been asking for for years. Institute Road between Springfield Road to Goldsmith Road is only wide enough for single file traffic. Everyday, during the rush hour, the road comes to a grinding halt. Saturday afternoons are particularly bad with residents reporting regular fights between car drivers who won’t give way to the other drivers.

It is sad that our local Labour Councillors have abandoned this consultation, without even bothering to ask local residents. Even worse they have given away £12,000 which could have been spent elsewhere in Kings Heath.