Last week I went to Dorridge Day, which will be well know to all those from that corner of our borough and perhaps some from further afield. It’s a wonderful day when people come together, community organisations set out their stalls and there’s good food and drink and plenty of entertainment. While I was there, I met some of the team from Foster for Solihull. It was a pleasure to speak to them and hear about the excellent work they do in finding and training people to become foster carers, and supporting those who already take on that vital role for some of our most vulnerable children and young people.
Fostering is something that many people think they’ll be excluded from due to all sorts of circumstances like being single, not owning their home, or not being in the first flush of youth, but I’d urge you to have a chat with them and they may well be able to allay your fears and put you on the path to being a foster carer. They’ll be at the Solihull Food Festival in the town centre next Friday and Saturday, you won’t miss them, they have a big purple marquee and even bigger smiles. If you can’t make the food festival, they’re running a coffee drop-in session at The Core Library on Thursday 19 October, more details of that in a future edition.
Of course, Foster for Solihull weren’t the only attraction at Dorridge Day, I also had the chance to catch up with Bickenhill and Meriden neighbourhood police, the community first responders – who are so impressive in attending emergencies ahead of ambulances and providing vital first aid, the Parkinsons Association, and many other local charities and businesses. Before I move on, a quick word about the classic cars on show. It was a pleasure to see so many people lining the road to welcome the procession, although unsurprising given the wonderful array. For my money, the MGB GT is one of the most beautiful cars ever built, so seeing a few in particularly excellent condition was a real treat.
I have news of some award-winning excellence by one of our teams here at the Council to bring you. Our building control team have won four awards at the LABC Regional Excellence Awards: Best Residential Conversion or Alteration to an Existing Home, Best Residential & Small Commercial Designer, Best Medium Volume New Housing Development, and Best Small New Housing Development. They will now move on to the Grand Finals in London in January, and I hope they are justly rewarded for their hard work and bring some silverware back to Solihull. Their work is typical of much of what goes on quietly at the Council, often without any fanfare, and I hope the recognition this team are getting can be reflected more widely.
Last week, the West Midlands Metro extension to Wolverhampton opened to passengers, linking to the railway station there and giving brilliant connections between tram, train and buses. I can almost hear you ask – ‘But what does that have to do with the people of Solihull?’. Well, aside from the fact that many of our residents naturally travel across the region regularly, it demonstrates what is being done in the region to drive the region forwards. However, I am very keen to improve transport connectivity within our own borough. It is a source of frustration for many people that it takes an hour to get from Solihull town centre to the north of the borough on public transport. Solihull is not a transport authority and even a Leader of the Council cannot just change that easily; it takes a lot of work, money, and buy-in from partners to change things. However, I have been lobbying hard on this subject in the region and will continue to do so.
Another problem is that bus patronage is down generally, and we need to change that if we are to make progress.
Better public transport also means fewer people needing to drive, which leads to improved air quality. That’s a tangible benefit to people’s health and quality of life, and the kind of thing I want to focus on with our environmental policies. I want to implement things that make people’s lives better– biodiversity improvements that give us natural spaces to enjoy, transport that leads to cleaner air for us to breathe, insulation that makes people’s homes cheaper to heat. You can be good for the planet and good for people at the same time.
In these messages, I try to avoid dialogue that gets political. Everyone knows I am keen on robust action on climate change: the problem is that action on emissions needs to be international, must not cripple our economy and just make people poorer, or do things where the tech is not ready. We need to do things at scale, everyone has a part to play, and money must be spent wisely. The devil is in the detail and I think more attention needs to be paid to how action can realistically be delivered rather than make it political.
Some works are due to start next Monday (25/09) to enable us to deliver the Kingshurst Village Centre Regeneration. Our contractors will be carrying out a series of sewer diversions and upgrades, which will mean that a section of Over Green Drive will be closed for up to 12 weeks. Obviously, we don’t like to cause this level of disruption lightly, but diversions will be in place throughout and the end result, a great new centre for Kingshurst, will make residents feel that the temporary inconvenience was worth it. There are a three bus route diversions resulting from this, for the 71, the 95 and the A9, and you can see the impact on them and revised timetables on the Transport for West Midlands Website.
The Council is running two free marketplace events next week to help people plan and prepare for later life. One in Solihull and the other in Chelmsley Wood. There’ll be around 20 stalls where you can speak to local experts including housing providers, Age UK Solihull, and Carers Trust Solihull, as well as council staff. If you’re interested and think you or someone you know could benefit, you can find out more on our website
Next Friday (29/09) is Older People’s Day. To commemorate the occasion Age UK Solihull, who will of course be present at our events next week, are encouraging people to wear their slippers to work or school or even just at home and make a donation to celebrate older people and the contribution they make to society. Whilst it’s probably one to avoid if you work on a construction site, it’s a very worthwhile cause and one I hope you’ll consider contributing to if you’re able. You can donate here.
Our colleagues at West Midlands Police have launched Operation Snap, a campaign for people to send in dashcam footage showing dangerous or careless driving. It’s to everyone’s benefit that people suffer the consequences when they make the roads unsafe through their own actions behind the wheel, so if you’ve witnessed something that was obviously not safe and caught it on dashcam, please upload it via their portal, you’ll be helping to keep everyone safe. Find out more on the Operation Snap webpage.
Finally, I was pleased to read a lovely story from our environmental contractors, Veolia and idverde, who challenged local schoolchildren to name their new Robot Pitch Marker. The little robot, which paints the lines for sports pitches, is now basking in the resplendent moniker of Line-l Richie thanks to Ella, 10, from Elmdon. You can read more about it in this news release.
Thanks, and enjoy the weekend,
Councillor Ian Courts, Leader of Solihull Council.