This week’s planning committee (13th Feb) is a big one - a few major applications, some deferrals coming back and a new chair (not sure why) with some big shoes to fill as the last two have been very capable. So here are a few thoughts. 1/n
This also has the benefit that if (when) the council have to move from the Council House to elsewhere in the city centre – but presumably still nearby – the name ‘Newhall’ can go with it.
I am once again suggesting we start referring to Birmingham City Council (et al) as ‘Newhall’.
We don’t have a City Hall, ‘Town Hall’ is a music venue, and the name ‘Council House’ has a very different meaning.
Newhall was/is the name of the estate that this part of the city centre was built on.
Which area? 👀
Just, and I cannot stress this enough, build HS2 in full.
This could be High Street, Corporation Street, Bull Street, Union Street, Albert Street, etc., but BCC is broke.
Screenshot of @bakebirmingham post on Instagram, which says they'll be at Tilt, 2 City Arcade B2 4TX, today Saturday 7th.
If you like cake and you're in Birmingham city centre today, the DELICIOUS Bake cake stall will be popping up in Tilt from 10.30 (they were supposed to be at Kings Heath market but... *gestures at weather*)
www.instagram.com/p/DDOudj-iYk...
No, of course it hasn’t. It’s a proposed drive thru on a thriving high street. It will encourage driving, choking the high street with congestion and fumes. It’s not compatible with a people-focused, sustainable future. That’s why there’s opposition.
www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk/p/has-mcdona...
This purple monstrosity makes me want to throw things at the TV every time it pops up
utterly grim to do that and not do HS2 in full
the thing that fills me with dread is that we're about to find out what policy Haigh stood in the way of such that she needed to be gotten rid of, and it's not likely to be good
Don’t tempt fate
This is really sad, actually.
From what I’ve read, the original conviction seems very heavy-handed.
Even if it was a more serious - but spent - conviction, our political system should not bar people from public office high or low, which is effectively what has happened here.
Their faces! So tempting.
I’ve just seen the phrase ‘extended Brummie’ used to refer to someone from the West Mids and I nearly fell off my perch
Two thirds of the countryback assisted dying
www.thetimes.com/article/97d2...
I’m giving a talk about Victorian depictions of orchid collecting including imperial adventure fiction and satires of Joseph Chamberlain. This Wednesday 27th November at Birmingham uni. Details here:
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/orchid-jo-...
Aerial view of two crosswalks. On the bottom, a new design where the crosswalk is elevated and has a much shorter crossing distance. On the top, the old design where the sidewalk disappears into the road and has a longer crossing distance.
On the bottom: a raised crosswalk with daylighting, where the intersection narrows for better visibility and shorter crossing distance.
On the top: a traditional crosswalk where the sidewalk essentially disappears into the road for crossing.
Rue Louis-Hémon at Bélanger
Of course. It’s even got a dedicated tram spur from Dudley.
There’s taxis and then there’s ‘taxis’. The real bold move would have been to pedestrianise Moor Street, with taxis accessing the station via the Queensway or via Park Street (when that end of the station is redeveloped).
Anything that’s not a dedicated bus lane (i.e. allows taxis) is unsuitable here. Also the pedestrian realm and usability suffers with the way the cycle lane’s been included. The bus mall also ceases to function for any services that do a u-turn (as the cycle lane makes impossible).
I really dislike the Moor Street Queensway gateway plans. Nowhere near innovative enough, still too much space dedicated to private motor vehicles
New Street’s still the busiest station outside of London? It’s almost like it’s at the heart of the railway network (yes, this is a dig at Derby).
I think I would listen to these views more if they had an answer for the up to 650 odd terminally ill people who commit suicide every year because of the law as it stands/they can’t afford to travel abroad to do so peacefully and legally (where they must also die alone)
After years of trying to discover the identity of the ‘monarch’ it appears we haven’t had one since at least 1889 (possibly 1852).
The fact we have no leader miraculously went unnoticed as everyone assumed that the oldest and greyest person they didn’t know at the council meetings was the monarch.
Council elders have determined that until ownership of the tip is shared, no concession can be made on the Reservoir.
As per supporting documentation:
“Yellow is Balsall Heath
Green is Moseley
Purple is Kings Heath
Blue is recent/historic loss
Red is contested”
I’m reliably informed that delegates from Balsall Heath and Kings Heath strenuously deny
a) the name ‘Kingdom’;
b) the concept of an unelected monarch for the area;
c) the name ‘Greater Moseley’.
Apparently names such as ‘BaMoKi’ (1997) or ‘South Birmingham Triumvirate’ (2016/18) are preferred.
Might be brave and try the new Yorks in Chamberlain Square (I’m half convinced it’s a collective hallucination)
Anyway, longish interview with me here that captures my thoughts nicely: metro.co.uk/video/rail-e...
