Lozells & East Handsworth Ward Committee

Please note that the Lozells & East Handsworth Ward Committee is to take place on Wednesday, 27th July (7pm start) at Mayfield School, Heathfield Road entrance, B19 1HP. The ward committee consisting of the three ward councillors meets in public to discuss key decisions impacting on the ward. Local residents and stakeholders have an opportunity to express their opinions on local matters being discussed as well as scrutinise the decisions being made by elected members. Please come along and/or further information, please ...

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Birmingham City Council forced to back down on off-shoring of Service Birmingham jobs to India

The City Council, meeting yesterday, considered a Motion proposed by the Labour Group regarding the off-shoring of Service Birmingham jobs to India. For months, the Labour Group has been putting pressure on the City Council to overturn a decision originally taken in November 2010 by the Cabinet. The initiative to off-shore a possible 74 jobs, mainly high-value, knowledge-based jobs, was originally taken to reduce the cost of the Service Birmingham contract in line with agreements with the City Council. In proposing the ...

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Re-Assurance from Lozells & East Handsworth Neighbourhood Policing Team

Following a number of concerned residents contacting me to raise issues of community safety including robberies, burglaries, ASB, etc, I had an extensive briefing from the Lozells & East Handsworth Neighbourhood Policing Team. I am assured that they are trying their best to build the trust and confidence of the local community and to make our area safer for all to live, work and socialise in. Furthermore, they are leading two activities in the next few days that all residents should be ...

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Sports Development: Perry Barr Constituency

As a sports lover, when I noticed that the main agenda item for my first Perry Barr Constituency Committee as a Councillor was Sports Development, I was looking forward to the presentation and the debate. I was fairly familiar with the Perry Barr Sports Development Team but did not realise the extent of what the team had achieved since being set up in 2005. The presentation delivered was excellent with exciting times for sport in the area. The team has delivered ...

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Lozells, Birchfield & Handsworth People’s Conference 2011 – Citizens unite to make change

I am delighted to invite you to the Lozells, Birchfield & Handsworth People's Conference on Saturday 9th July 2011 (10.30am-2.00pm) at Handsworth Campus of City College Birmingham, Soho Road, Birmingham, B21 9DP. To confirm your attendance, please email rajinder Why are we doing this? In the last few years, many residents and community groups have been actively involved in helping their neighbourhoods become better places to live and work in. We have achieved a lot together as local communities in improving the profile of ...

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All women shortlists in inner city wards: no dispensation from representation

by Waseem Zaffar Last month, I was elected to Birmingham city council for the first time. A couple of weeks later was the council AGM, at which, amongst other things, we elected a new lord mayor. Councillor Len Gregory handed over to senior Labour councillor, Anita Ward. The whole occasion made me proud to be taking part and proud to be a Brummie. Cllr. Ward will be a fantastic first citizen. But something about the ceremony also embarrassed me. Made me wonder ...

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Extra Police Presence in Lozells

Following a meeting this afternoon with Inspector Karen Geddes and Sergeant Jill Hughes of the West Midlands Police, I have been assured that despite limited resources following re-structuring of the Police, there will be extra police patrol in Lozells. This is due to an increase in street robberies and robberies in general. The two main targets for criminals are gold and electronic devices. The price of gold has increased substantially over the recession period and gold is seen as a quick convertor ...

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Celebrating 10 years of Angelsey Playgroup with Lord Mayor of Birmingham & Khalid Mahmood MP

I had huge pleasure in welcoming newly elected Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Cllr. Anita Ward to my ward to join celebrations of the 10th year anniversary of the Playgroup at Angelsey School. I was also pleased that local Member of Parliament – Khalid Mahmood joined the celebrations. The Playgroup was first opened in 1999 by support received from the National Lottery Funding. In 2008, the playgroup achieved an outstanding inspection for leadership and management, education and care, language and literacy, mathematics, ...

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Lozells Neighbourhood Forum Public Meeting

On Wednesday, 25th May, I was delighted to attend the public meeting of the Lozells Neighbourhood Forum at Angelsey Infant School. I was very curious as well as nervous to learn of the attendance at the meeting as it was advertised to start at 9.00am. As I approached the entrance to the school hall where the meeting was taking place, I was pleased to see a queue of people, the majority of whom were women, waiting to gain entrance into the ...

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Local Community Action at its Best in Handsworth

I attended a community event on Saturday morning on Brunswick Gardens in Handsworth in my capacity as newly elected Councillor for Lozells and East Handsworth Ward. Local residents have been working for months with West Midlands Police, Midlands Heart, Groundwork and Birmingham City council to claim back the alleyways that run between Albert Rd and Herbert Rd. Through neighbourhood management led by Handsworth Neighbourhood Manager Tracey Thorne, the local community were able to get some funding to clean up the area and ...

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