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Raising Community Awareness of the Welfare Reform Bill

This week, I attended a seminar jointly hosted by Aspire & Succeed CIC and the Birmingham Tribunal Unit in Lozells focusing around raising community awareness of the Welfare Reform Bill that is currently proceeding through Parliament. The session included the basic outline of the proposed changes and how the local community may be affected by these changes. The Government is being urged by Labour to abandon contentious welfare reforms after a series of defeats in the Lords. Planned restrictions on employment and ...

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January 01, 2012 - waseemzaffar
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Developments in Planning & Regeneration in Lozells & Handsworth

You may be aware of the changes to the planning system introduced by the government through the new Localism Act. The Localism Act  promotes a bottom-up, neighbourhood planning approach which gives communities an opportunity to prepare plans for their local areas and shape the future of places where they live and work. Under the Act, communities will have new powers to lead the preparation of Neighbourhood Development Plans (NDPs). NDPs offer an opportunity to decide the nature, location and design of developments,  and ...

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January 01, 2012 - waseemzaffar
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Full Council: 10th Jan 2012 – Asked an Oral Question to the Cabinet Member for Housing

" Watch live video from bcc_meetings on Justin.tv" Oral Question to Cllr John Lines: "I was pleased to discover that Birmingham City Council prosecuted a landlord for failing to apply for a House in Multiple Occupation license for a property on Turville Road in my ward. He was fined £500 with £2,000 costs and his tenants can now apply for a Rent Repayment Order to recover money to him. What message do you have for such individuals who fail to apply for the HMO ...

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January 01, 2012 - waseemzaffar
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Birmingham Young People’s Parliament

When invited by the Association of Handsworth Schools, to participate in a question and answer session with children from a number of schools from Handsworth in the Council Chamber, I did not really know what to expect but was excited. My first contribution was to inform the Lord Mayor, Cllr Anita Ward, who I bumped into in the corridors of the Council House, that the Council Chamber had been taken over by children from across Handsworth. She took this news on ...

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January 01, 2012 - waseemzaffar

From Zero to Hero Debate

I was pleased to be invited to a debate facilitated by the UK Youth Parliament Member, Shaun Baxter on behalf of the organisation ‘From Zero to Hero’ This organisation is being supported by the Handsworth and Lozells CommUNITY team. The panel, consisting of myself, Peter Latchford (currently writing a report on the Birmingham Disturbances), Superintendent Richard Moore, a local Police Constable and Kirk Dawes QPM of the Mediation Project, discussed the relationship between young people and the Police. A lively debate took ...

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January 01, 2012 - waseemzaffar
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Yvonne Wager – Thank You For All You Have Done for the People of Lozells, Birchfield & Handsworth

The Lozells & East Handsworth Ward Committee was an emotional meeting in that it was the last meeting of Yvonne Wager as a Birmingham City Council officer. Yvonne has spent over 10 years working in the Perry Barr constituency in a variety of roles including Oscott Ward Support Officer, Birchfield Neighbourhood Manager and most recently as the Ward Support Officer for Lozells & East Handsworth. Yvonne has built up a depth of knowledge of the local area. She is much loved ...

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December 12, 2011 - waseemzaffar
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Birmingham Trees for Life Planted 14 New Trees at Handsworth Park

On the 29th November, I was pleased to join the Birmingham Trees for Life project and young people from Handsworth Wood Girls School to plant twelve wonderful trees. The trees will form part of a new Tree Trail to be produced for the park in the summer. Unusual types of oak and beech were planted to add to the variety of trees in the park. Other trees with interesting leaves were also planted. Two of the trees were particularly suited to ...

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December 12, 2011 - waseemzaffar
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December Full Council

When analysing the agenda for the Full Council Meeting in December, I quickly realized that I would have a busy meeting as there were a number of very important debates taking place that I wanted to participate within. I read the extensive report presented by the Cabinet Member for Sport Leisure & Culture, Cllr. Martin Mullaney and was surprised to see a number of key exclusion that I felt I had to bring to his and the chamber’s attention. The Perry Barr ...

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December 12, 2011 - waseemzaffar
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Lozells & East Handsworth Ward Committee

On 12th December, I chaired the Lozells & East Handsworth Ward Committee. We received presentations from Phil Forest of City College Birmingham on developments at the college and in particular the Handsworth Campus and Zahid Mahmood from the Regeneration Department of Birmingham City Council on the proposed A34 Strategy and vision to be implemented over the next 15 years. There was a no show from the Fleet and Waste Management team for the second time in a row after agreeing to ...

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Public Meeting to Discuss Opening Hours of Handsworth Library and the Proposed Overnight Closure of Thornhill Road Police Station

As an elected member, local residents are always raising issues with me. Sometimes these issues are related to their individual needs and other times, the issues are related to the wider community. In recent weeks, many residents have raised two particular issues with me more than anything else – the opening hours of Handsworth Library and the proposed overnight closure of Thornhill Road Police Station. I subsequently felt that it was important to discuss both these issues in the public domain ...

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December 12, 2011 - waseemzaffar
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