Blandford Road Police Post Handed Over!

Please check out Cllr Deirdre Alden's blog for more info!

Unpopular and Unsightly Garages to be Demolished

I’m very pleased to announce that the garages to the rear of flats 9-25 Stourton Road, accessed from Highfield Lane, are soon to be demolished.

I’d been contacted by many local residents about the worsening condition of these garages. They’re an eyesore and a magnet for antisocial behaviour. When I visited them recently, I discovered evidence that they’d been used by prostitutes and their clients. People have also been lighting fires there. Hard-working local families in an otherwise very nice area shouldn’t have to put up with this. I contacted the Council and we agreed a plan to give the area a fresh start.

The site will be visited in the coming days by Council experts, who will assess how best to perform the demolition work. The demolition work itself is due to be carried out in the early part of the 2008 financial year, which begins in April. The area will also be secured to prevent any further antisocial behaviour.

Meet The Team!

Last weekend's campaigning all across Quinton ward went very well. And it's all down to the great team!

End of the Line for Cramped, Dark Platforms!

The Government has finally responded in full to our Conservative-led Council's call for redevelopment of New Street Station by releasing a further £260m of funding. This will enable the project to go full steam ahead to the anticipated finish date of 2011.

The total cost of the project is £598m, £200m of which will come from the private sector. It will double passenger capacity and create an estimated 5,000 new jobs.

All great news for residents and visitors alike. Well done to all who made it happen!

We're a Three-Star Council!

Yesterday, the Conservative-led Birmingham City Council announced that the Government has awarded it three stars! In 2004, we inherited a no-star Council with particularly acute problems in Housing and Social Services - it's an amazing turnaround. Adult Care, Education and Housing were picked out for special praise in the Audit Commission's report.

The picture shows me with Alistair Burt MP, Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party.

New Green Space on Stoney Lane

Along with your local Conservative Councillors Jane James and Len Clark, I’m very pleased to announce that we’ve improved the public area at the junction of Stoney Lane and Hagley Road West. We’ve cleared out the undergrowth and installed a smart new green space. The photo shows myself and Cllr Clark at the site.

Good News for Residents of Quinton Road West Area!

The Quinton Conservatives Hit Squad recently planted lots of flower bulbs in the planters outside the shops at the corner of Gorsy Road and Quinton Road West. These will provide a very pleasant street scene when the flowers grow this spring.

The photo shows myself, Parliamentary Spokesman Cllr Deirdre Alden and Quinton Conservative Councillors Jane James and Len Clark.

You may also be interested to know that a recent planning application to turn one of the shops at the corner of Bolney Road and Quinton Road West into a hot fast food outlet has been turned down. The decision was made after local residents submitted a petition objecting to the planning application.

Toronto Gardens Cleanup

Your local Conservative Hit Squad recently visited Toronto Gardens off Court Oak Rd to see what we could do. We’d had reports of litter and leaves piling up and making the area unpleasant for the many elderly residents. Our Parliamentary Spokesman Cllr Deirdre Alden, Quinton Councillor Jane James and I turned up and got it sorted. We hope that our efforts made the environment more pleasant for everyone!

Today has been cancelled

This is something that appeared on the main conservatives.com website and in several national newspapers today, and I think well worth repeating. Click the image for a better look...

Quinton Ward Gets Greener – Again!

I'm delighted to announce the continued success of the Quinton Green-Up Campaign.

We planted over 600 trees in Quinton ward during the previous two years, and this year sees another 200. Trees improve air quality, enhance the street scene and increase the amount of local wildlife. This campaign is greatly improving the environment for thousands of residents across Quinton ward. It’s yet another example of your local Conservative team delivering results on the ground.

Next to get the green-up treatment is the area around Wedgewood Rd, Faraday Rd and World’s End Lane. The team will also be picking up some other roads, including some that need to be finished off from last year.

Everyone living in the target areas will be given prior notice and have the opportunity to comment before work starts.

Brown Fritters?

'Frit' is a Lincolnshire colloquialism for 'frightened', made famous by Margaret Thatcher in 1983. She was accusing Labour's Denis Healey of being frightened of her calling a General Election.

On Wednesday, I returned from Conservative Party Conference, buoyed up by David Cameron's great speech. Any accusations that he lacks substance were firmly put to bed - there were plenty of policy proposals, incuding raising the threshold for inheritance tax and stamp duty. We're going to pay for this by a flat rate tax on so-called 'non-doms' - typically very rich people who live in the UK but don't pay normal tax for various reasons.

Labour's playing a very cynical game on this. Before we announced our policy, the (Labour-run) Treasury claimed that they didn't have any figures on non-doms. But when we announced it, Labour said that our sums didn't add up, based on figures magically obtained from the Treasury! The reality is that we've come up with some well researched, well costed policies and they're using every trick they can to try and undermine them.

Well, it won't work and the British public won't fall for it. So Mr Brown, why don't you call the election - we're ready. Or are you frit?

UPDATE 06/10/2007: He's bottled it!

Guest Post from Praguetory

Sorry I haven't posted for a while - things have been very busy in Quinton! Today's post is a guest post from my good friend Praguetory.

Since 1997 Labour MPs have been returned in all but two of the 11 Parliamentary seats within the borders of Birmingham. At Westminster we rely heavily on Labour representatives. A recently published government report on unemployment by constituency makes depressing reading for Brummies.

With the exception of Sutton Coldfield, all seats in Birmingham are ranked as having among the highest rates of unemployment in the UK, with Birmingham seats taking the top three positions in a league table that you don't want to head.

1. Birmingham Ladywood
2. Birmingham Sparkbrook & Small Heath
3. Birmingham Hodge Hill
12. Birmingham Erdington
16. Birmingham Perry Barr
39. Birmingham Yardley
56. Birmingham Edgbaston
71. Birmingham Northfield
77. Birmingham Selly Oak
78. Birmingham Hall Green
446. Sutton Coldfield

In 1997, unemployment in Birmingham was 10.6%, 1.7 times the national average. In 2006, unemployment in Birmingham stands at 8.9%, 3.4 times the national average. In every year since 1997, the difference between unemployment rates in Birmingham and the rest of the country has widened.

And yet, Steve McCabe, a government whip and the Labour MP for Hall Green is in denial in Monday's Birmingham Post! Since 1997 Labour has utterly failed the people of Birmingham. Their locally elected politicians such as the mendacious McCabe stand complicit.

Planting success in Quinton

I was out on Saturday weeding and replanting the planters on the corner of Gorsy Rd and Quinton Rd West. Cllrs Jane James and Deirdre Alden were also there, along with a team of local Conservative volunteers. We got a lot done and hopefully brightened up the place. If you'd be interested in sponsoring a planter or two, drop me an email!

Local footie tournament

Yesterday, I attended a football tournament where the focus was kicking racism out of football. Loads of teams of youngsters from around the area were playing, including several from Quinton. I was there with Cllr Jane James from Quinton (right) and Cllr Deirdre Alden, Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman for Edgbaston Constituency (left). All the boys and girls had a great time! Match report on Deirdre's blog.

Busy weekend

It's been a busy weekend!



On Saturday morning, a team of local Conservatives (myself included) spent some time strimming, weeding and otherwise cleaning up the junction of Upper Meadow Rd, Hansom Rd and Arkwright Rd in Quinton. Doing this ourselves is only a temporary measure until we get something permanent arranged with the Council. The place looked much better after we'd finished, and certainly the residents we spoke to agreed. Thanks to all who helped, including Cllr Len Clark and Cllr Jane James from Quinton, and Cllr Deirdre Alden, Parliamentary Spokesman for Edgbaston Constituency.

I spent most of yesterday at Harborne Carnival, manning the Conservatives stall. We must have given away over a thousand balloons and plenty of our 'Carnival Special' leaflets. Loads of people came up and spoke to us, and it was a very useful way of engaging with local people and finding out about current issues. The carnival as a whole was a great success and it looked like everyone was having fun. Again, Len, Jane and Deirdre were there, along with Cllr John Alden from Harborne, volunteers from Conservative City Branch, Birmingham University Conservative Future and many others.

And so it starts again...

Was out in Quinton yesterday and delivered a few hundred leaflets. Probably should have avoided doing some of it at midday as it was a bit hot. Good thing I had some sun lotion in the car, or I would have ended up looking like a pork scratching. Dog bite count was zero, although there were some close shaves...

Scottish Parliament visit

I'm in Edinburgh with work, so I took the opportunity to meet up with John Lamont MSP for a lunchtime tour of the Scottish Parliament. John was elected in May for the constituency of Roxburgh and Berwickshire, and deservedly so. He's been working very hard there for many years, building up his support and engaging with the electorate on bread-and-butter issues that matter to them, whether it's a lack of dentists, proposed hospital closures, even rod licences!

I was very impressed by John's work ethic and he's running an amazing number of surgeries now he's been elected. John was kind enough to show me the Parliament chamber (I was tempted to sit in the Presiding Officer's chair, but didn't) and his office, complete with something called a 'Thinking Pod'...

A very interesting and informative tour, and I'm sure I'll be seeing John again at Party Conference if not before. Keep up the good work mate!

What a shower

There was a special edition of Newsnight last night, with all six Labour deputy leadership contenders. Here's my verdict:

Harman: Lose the power dressing.
Johnson: Likeable, but it's as if the Eighties never happened.
Cruddas: See above.
Hain: Statesman-like, but boring.
Benn: Dull, but at least he didn't use any notes.
Blears: Disaster area. Go on Labour, elect her.

Yesterday's real headlines

• The Bank of England raises interest rates to a six-year high.
• The projected cost of the Government's ID card scheme rises by £400m to £5.31bn.
• Tony Blair doesn't resign as Prime Minister or even as leader of the Labour Party, but talks about it a bit.

Coincidence? You decide...

Yesterday, today and tomorrow

So there you have it - the last of the English council results have come in. And let's not pretend otherwise, they're a great set of results for the Conservatives, on top of a great set of results last year. Even some of the Labour bloggers are honest enough to say so.

Tomorrow, Tony Blair will almost certainly announce that he's standing down as Prime Minister. He'll try to take the rap for these results, or at least be blamed by the rest of his Party for them. His ten years in office have been a missed opportunity, and I've been racking my brains this afternoon trying to think of anything positive he's achieved since D:Ream's Things Can Only Get Better rang out that day in May 1997.

The only things I can come up with are ASBOs (which hopefully one day won't be needed anymore) and the continuation of the Northern Ireland peace process, which was started by his Conservative predecessor John Major with the Downing Street Declaration. Yesterday, people across Northern Ireland witnessed the product of the process so far when the DUP, Sinn Féin and the other parties sat down together in government.

But as one Labour Prime Minister gives way to another, let's not forget the tax rises, the billions wiped off pension funds, the rewriting of the government's own fiscal discipline rules, the economic problems stored up for the future. This isn't just the legacy of Tony Blair, it's the legacy of Gordon Brown.