Quinton Ward Committee

The next Quinton Ward Committee will take place at 7pm on Thursday 3rd June at the Quinborne Centre, Ridgacre Road, Quinton, B32 2TW.

You can find the agenda and more details at http://is.gd/ctdzd.

All change - in Quinton and in Westminster

Now everything's calmed down a bit, it's time to write about the last couple of weeks.

Firstly Quinton. I'm very sad that we've lost Jane James as one of the local Councillors. Jane ran a very good campaign, and the narrowness of the overall result (just 150 votes or so) reflected this. Jane was a great Councillor and will be sorely missed. Hopefully this will just be a temporary 'holiday' away from Council and Ward business.

Our Parliamentary Candidate Deirdre Alden was also unlucky not to win the Constituency by a similarly narrow margin (about 1,200 votes). Deirdre is a very genuine and hard-working person and has dedicated herself to the campaign for many years. I do hope that we'll still see lots of her in Quinton.

Now to more positive news. Naturally, I would like to welcome the new government as it starts work on its programme of change. The coalition of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, with the Conservatives as the larger party, mirrors the progressive partnership we’ve had in Birmingham for the past six years. We’ve demonstrated locally that such an arrangement can be stable, successful and can be made to work for everyone’s benefit.

I thought it would be useful to pick out a few key policies that are particularly relevant to Quinton.

1. Council Tax will be frozen for at least one year, possibly longer. It won’t be difficult for us to meet this challenge locally as we’ve only had below-inflation rises since the current partnership entered office. The Council will also publish details of all spending above £500.

2. The local Council will be given new powers to make it much harder for people to build by ‘garden grabbing’. Unfortunately, we’ve seen quite a lot of this in Quinton and the Council has been powerless to act until now.

3. The local Police will be made more accountable and responsive to local needs through oversight by a directly elected person.

4. We will give the Council and the local Police powers to permanently close places that persistently sell alcohol to youngsters, and double the maximum fine for doing so. We will also ban the irresponsible sale of alcohol as a ‘loss leader’; that is, below cost price.

5. Communities, charities, parents and teachers will be able to set up their own local schools.

I look forward to working with the new government as it puts these policies into action.

Two hours left!

Just got time to do a quick post - you've got about two hours left to vote for Jane James and Deirdre Alden. Polling stations open until 10pm and you don't need your polling card to vote!

Quinborne Open Day, Saturday 22nd May

Hope you can make it!

Happy St George's Day - Birmingham's No 1 for Events!

Can I wish everyone in Quinton Ward a very Happy St George's Day. I don't believe I'm alone in thinking that this particular day may have been a little overlooked in the past, but no longer, and certainly not in Birmingham.

The independent group StGeorgesHoliday.com has ranked Conservative-led Birmingham City Council No 1 in commitment to St George's Day events, beating Manchester into second place. Something else to celebrate today!

Manifesto Launched in Birmingham

Today in Birmingham, as well as the monthly meeting of the Council, we also had the regional launch of the Conservative Manifesto for the General Election.

Any accusations that we're light on policy were firmly put to bed today, if they were ever true in the first place. Among the tons of policies in the manifesto, here are a few corkers:

1. We will reverse Labour's unnecessary and damaging National Insurance increase.

2. We will implement an emergency Budget within 50 days to get rid of most of Labour's budget deficit - the largest racked up by any government in peacetime.

3. We will give parents the opportunity to take over and run schools themselves. Not an 'abdication of responsibility', which is what Labour's Parliamentary Candidate thinks, but a policy to give power and control back to ordinary people, which has to be better than Labour's centralised state targets.

4. We will allow everyone to choose any healthcare provider they want that meets NHS standards and prices.

5. We will get rid of mixed-sex wards, unlike Labour who pretended to.

6. We will give Birmingham City Council the right to shut places that sell alcohol to underage teenagers.

7. We will implement a points system and a ceiling on non-EU economic migrants to the UK. Labour's policy has no ceiling.

8. We will cut the number of MPs by 10%. (Yes, the Tories do cut some things!)

9. We will reintroduce the link between earnings and the basic state pension.

10. We will start building the high-speed rail link between London and Birmingham immediately.

And here's one that might have passed you by - we will substantially reduce the amount of government advertising and use the money saved to keep your Council Tax down. Has anyone else noticed the sheer number of government adverts at the moment? I was listening to the radio the other day and virtually every advert in every break was a government one of one form or another.

So there you have it. Vote for change - vote Conservative.

Bring it on!

Five more years of Gordon Brown or real change under David Cameron. That's the choice facing each and every voter on Thursday 6th May.

David Cameron's first visit of the campaign was to the QE Hospital in Edgbaston Constituency, which includes my own ward of Quinton. Not only does this show our leader's commitment to the NHS, but also to the people of Birmingham.

This is at least the second time that David Cameron has launched a campaign in Birmingham. I was there when he started his successful bid for leadership of the Party in 2005. Since then, the Conservatives have retaken the centre ground of British politics, and once again we're ready for government.

I'm looking forward to the campaign ahead. Bring it on!

This is what can happen if you don't park safely!

The latest in Edgbaston Constituency's series of videos...

Birmingham and Edgbaston Constituency supporting Young Readers

The second in the series of videos shows the support that Edgbaston Constituency and the Conservative-led Council give to young readers...

Park Inconsiderately and Risk a Fine!

Quinton's in Edgbaston Constituency, which is chaired by our fantastic Parliamentary Spokesman Deirdre Alden. The Constituency has commissioned a series of videos dealing with proper issues that concern local residents. The intention is to show them on public screens (muted!) and I am also making them available online.

This the first video and it illustrates the fines you can face if you park inconsiderately - you have been warned!

If you represent a local authority and would like to have this video customised for your own use, please let me know!


P.S. Never mind the quality - feel the width! ;-)

Cameron Direct comes to the Constituency!

Do you want to ask David Cameron a question? Perhaps you're concerned about crime in your area and what a Conservative government would do to tackle it? Would you like to know more about our economic policies, or what we would do for married couples? Whatever your question, David Cameron is visiting the Constituency this Thursday 11th February at 5.30pm.

If you'd like to come along and talk to David Cameron, just call 0121 426 6022 or email our Parliamentary Spokesman Deirdre Alden at deirdre4edgbaston@hotmail.co.uk.

Bharatnatyam Dance Performance at the ICC

My wife Laura and I have just returned from a splendid evening at the ICC to celebrate the Republic of India's 60th birthday. We were treated to a performance of Bharatnatyam dance by Geetra Chandran and the Natya Vriksha Dance Company. Superb!

The photo above shows us with His Excellency Mr Nalin Surie, High Commissioner of India and his wife, and Cllr Mike Whitby, Leader of Birmingham City Council.

Labour’s Flagship ID Cards Policy in Tatters

Yesterday was the monthly meeting of the full City Council. For me, the most interesting and important part was the debate on ID cards, where the following motion was put forward by two LibDem Councillors:

This council reaffirms its resistance to Identity Cards. Despite widespread political and public opposition, the Government appear intent on pursuing the implementation at a reported cost of £4.74billion for British and Irish Nationals and an additional £311million for Foreign Nationals over the next 10 years.

• Abolishing this invasive scheme would save enough money to employ 10,000 more police on our streets.
  

• The new IT systems implemented at the Post Office, Passport Office, Probation Service, Police Service, Courts Service and Child Support Agency have all run massively over budget, the ID card scheme would be the biggest and most expensive public sector project ever undertaken.
  

• The implementation of the NHS computer system has cost billions and resulted in the reduction of frontline services as maternity and A&E departments are closed across the country.
  

• The ID card will undermine the contract between the Police and the Public resulting in an increase in harassment and discrimination
  

• There is no proof the ID card will help fight crime and terrorism – tests have proved that criminals have the capability of duplicating ID cards with little or no difficulty, rendering the ID card worthless.
  

• There is no proof it will prevent illegal working, the fact that illegal immigrants will not be able to get ID cards will not change anything as long as there are unscrupulous employers and lax Home Office enforcement.
  

Given the UK's current financial situation, the financial loss to the individual and implications to civil liberty this council objects to the implementation of ID cards.

I agree with every word of this and wholeheartedly voted for this motion, as did all of the Conservative Group.

As the 'named' vote was called, all of the Labour members suddenly seemed a lot more interested in their BlackBerries. Not one used the voting machines to vote Yes, No or Abstain - they even abstained from abstaining!

I can't see how the government can carry on with this scheme when they don't even have the support of their own elected members - they should scrap it now.

Dates for Your Diary

Happy New Year!

Thought it would be a good time to update everyone on forthcoming Quinton-related events:

Quinton Ward Committee:

15/2/10, 7pm, Quinborne Centre, Ridgacre Road

Edgbaston Constituency Committee:

18/1/10, 7pm, Quinborne Centre, Ridgacre Road
18/3/10, 7pm, Council House, Victoria Square
27/5/10, 7pm, Council House, Victoria Square (provisional)

Full City Council Meetings:

Council House, Victoria Square, 2pm: 12/1/10, 2/2/10, 23/2/10, 13/04/10

Police PACT (Partners and Communities Together) meetings:

Welsh House Farm School, 7pm: 11/1/10, 8/2/10, 8/3/10, 5/4/10
Quinborne Centre, Ridgacre Road, 7.30pm: 18/1/10, 8/3/10
Onnelly House, Court Oak Road, 7pm: 7/1/10, 11/3/10

Also look out for the latest leaflets from the Constituency's Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman Deirdre Alden and Quinton's Councillors (including me!).

Finally, rest assured that the City's gritting teams are working flat out to keep Birmingham moving...

New Government Scrappage Scheme Launched

In a bold attempt to revive the government's flagging popularity, Downing Street announced a new scrappage scheme today. People will be able to trade in their old government for a new one and get a reduction in government spending.

Prime-Minister-By-Default Gordon Brown welcomed the news. 'If the focus groups are anything to go by, I'm sure that this will be the post popular policy we've ever announced. Millions of people up and down the country will benefit from scrapping their government, and it will also give a much-needed boost to our beleagured manufacturing base.'

Chancellor-In-Name-Only Alistair Darling added, 'Gordon sent me a text about this, and I'm fully behind that text. I'm already looking forward to my date with the crusher.'

Happy Birthday Quinton!

On 9th November 1909, Quinton became part of Birmingham. That's 100 years ago tomorrow, and we're having lots of events to mark the occasion...

Saturday 14th November, 7.30-10.30pm (doors open 7pm): Concert at Christ Church Parish Hall by four-piece band Giggetty with a repertoire ranging from Abba to folk. Tickets £9 (includes fish 'n' chip supper) available from Quinton Local History Society, 15 Worlds End Avenue, Quinton, Birmingham B32 1JF, or phone 0121 422 1792.

Sunday 15th November, 12.30pm: THE MAIN EVENT. Procession led by Birmingham Pipe Band, Starting from Christ Church Rectory on Hagley Road West. The procession will go along Hagley Road West, High Street, Ridgacre Road West and The Green, crossing Meadow Road into Quinton Park where the Lord Mayor will arrive at about 1.30pm to officially mark the centenary and officiate at the planting of two commemorative trees.

Saturday 21st November, 10am-4pm: Quinton history exhibition by Dr Michael Hall at Quinton Methodist Church Hall, Hagley Road West. Admission free, small charge for refreshments.

Saturday 21st November, 7.30-11pm (doors open 7pm): Concert at Bennett Hall, Quinborne Centre, Ridgacre Road by seven-piece band Penny Short with a guest appearance from Quinton Community Choir. Tickets £5 from The Office, Quinborne Centre or phone 0121 682 7474 and ask for Linda.

Tuesday 24th November, 7.45 (doors open 7.15): Meet the authors of 'The Quinton – A History in Words and Images' (Kate Creed, Michael Hall, Andrew Maxam, Anthony Rosser and Bernard Taylor). This evening of nostalgia is only £1.50, payable at the door on the night.

Saturday 28th November, 10am-4pm: Quinton history exhibition by Quinton Local History Society at Christ Church Parish Hall, Hagley Road West. Admission free, small charge for refreshments.

For general information on any of the events, please phone 0121 422 1792.

Police Halloween Events

I spent yesterday evening helping the local Police with another successful pair of Halloween events in Quinton. Older homeowners can feel quite intimidated at Halloween as they are often inundated with trick-or-treat callers through the night. The Police try to solve the problem by running a family event at the Day Centre on West Boulevard, to give potential 'trick-or-treaters' something else to do, and a dinner for older people at Onneley House on Court Oak Road, so they are not at home anyway.

I went to both events which were very well attended and a huge success. I was further impressed when I found out that all the Police helping out were doing so in their free time and won't be claiming overtime.

Well done everyone, and looking forward to another success next year!

Action on Graffiti

My fellow Quinton Councillor Jane James and I spent much of Saturday removing graffiti from various places in the ward. Graffiti is highly antisocial and has a tendency to bring down an area if not kep in check. I've also passed several photos onto the local Police so they can add to their database of tags in use in the area.

Supporting the Half Marathon

Today saw Birmingham host the World Half Marathon and the Birmingham Half Marathon, aka the 'Race against climate change'. The former is for elite runners and the latter for anyone - both follow the same route, which passes through the Constituency.

It was great to be able to support the event and cheer on the runners - I even saw a couple of friends run past - an added bonus! It's superb that, once again, Birmingham has been able to stage a world-class event.

Line Dancing at Quinborne

Fancy learning how to line dance? The Quinborne Centre will be holding lessons from Tuesday 3rd November. Only £3.50 per session - bargain! (Click the picture for a bigger version.)