January 2013



Curated from , written by Robin Valk

Birmingham City Council Planning Committee mysteriously and unilaterally reverses its decision to protect the Hare and Hounds. And they say there’s no appeal.

Yesterday, I and hundreds of others who had voiced concerns to Birmingham City Council’s Planning and Regeneration office, got emails saying the Planning Officer has reversed the council’s decision to oppose a property development right next to the Hare and Hounds venue. 

This is the latest in a series of decisions by BCC planning favouring speculative property developments in close proximity to existing music venues. Often the venues are forced to stop putting music on. We’ve lost several already, and it damages our music infrastructure each time this happens. Initially, the council had been prepared to rule in favour of the Hare and Hound’s objections, on a (second) application from the developer. Now, an email has gone out saying that this has been overturned. And the council’s note says the decision can not be appealed. 

So… the threat to the Hare is back. Allegedly – I got this from two sources – there was concern about the possibility of legal action from the property developer. This seems to have led to the Planning Officer over-ruling the committee’s December decision. I hear some councillors are up in arms. 

If this is truly the case, it is appalling, gutless, bone-headed and inexplicable. The council is supposed to represent the interests of everyone in this city. It does not make good business sense to risk another grassroots music venue going dark, especially one as well-run as this one. And our local music sector delivers a multi-million pound yearly contribution to the city’s economy.   

Worst of all, the implication would be that every time a property developer – allegedly – says boo, the council rolls over. If you remotely care about our music scene, you should be incandescent about this. 

See the December Radio To Go post  for the full background, and the arguments to keep the Hare as is in greater detail.



Curated from , written by martin mullaney

The Birmingham MP who persuaded President Lincoln to abolish slavery

Many of us will visit our local cinemas in the coming weeks and watch Steven Spielberg’s film ‘Lincoln’. I haven’t yet seen the film, but I am confident that they will not show how a Birmingham MP (and that’s Birmingham, England, not Birmingham, USA) persuaded him to make the ending of slavery completely, a central issue of the American Civil War.

When the Civil War began, Lincoln’s stance was that slavery could continue in the Confederate states, but any new states would be slavery free. Indeed, Lincoln prohibited his Generals from freeing slaves in captured states. In 1861, Lincoln sacked Major General John C. Frémont, the commander of the Union Army in St. Louis, for freeing slaves in captured terriorities.

It was John Bright who persuaded President Lincoln to harden his stance on abolishing slavery. On 22nd September 1862, eighteen months into the War, Lincoln announced his Emancipation Proclamation, where every slave in the USA would be freed as of 1st January 1863.

Indeed, John Bright’s friendship with President Abraham Lincoln was so important, that when President Lincoln was assassinated, on his body was found a newspaper article about his presidency by John Bright. In Lincoln’s study were two paintings, one of which was a portrait of John Bright. And today, just inside the main entrance of the White House is a bust of John Bright, which was found by Jackie Kennedy in the 1960s in the basement and put back on display.

John Bright never corresponded direct with Abraham Lincoln. Instead John’s letters to US Senator Charles Sumner were widely read across the US Senate, including by Lincoln. It was through this correspondence that John Bright persuaded Lincoln to make the abolition of slavery across the entire USA a central platform of the Civil War.

On 23rd October 2009, a statue to John Bright MP was unveiled inside Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. The statue was jointly unveiled by Councillor Ernie Hendricks who campaigned for this statue to be put back on display; Bill Cash MP whose great grandfather was a first cousin of John Bright and Stephanie Hightower, President of the USA athletics and field team.

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‘Serious errors’ made in calculating council redundancy payments

Employee ovderpaid by £7,500 after name mix-up - but allowed to keep the money


Council HouseA desperate bid by Birmingham City Council to axe jobs saw serious errors in calculating redundancy payments, with staff receiving too much money, others getting too little, and some even banking large lump sums when they weren’t being made redundant.

In one case an employee taking voluntary redundancy was overpaid by £7,500 after his severance package was calculated for someone else with the same name. He was allowed to keep the money.

Auditors discovered numerous mistakes between 2010 and 2012 while the council was trying to reduce its workforce by about 5,000. A sample trawl found 35 employees who had received redundancy payments in error – they were still working for the council.

One person was paid £20,000 by mistake. The council only managed to recover £10,000.

Details of the errors are contained in financial reports that are

Continues…


via birminghamnewsroom.com » Media Watch http://birminghamnewsroom.com/2013/01/media-watch-jan-25-3/ January 25, 2013 at 09:40AM

Top Birmingham City Council Stories

Ambitious plan for growth goes to the core (Municipal Journal) The new cabinet of core cities has urged PM David Cameron and the Government to join it in ‘an ambitious programme for jobs and growth’.

Outrage at binmen who won’t work in the snow (Daily Express) Inaccurate story claiming bin collections have been cancelled in Birmingham this week as a consequence of the snow and ice. In fact, though there has been an inevitable backlog, refuse collectors have worked all week.

Boxing club bid refused (Birmingham Mail) A bid to convert unused industrial units into a boxing gym for inner-city youngsters has been rejected by city councillors.

Flat nod puts pub in danger (Birmingham Mail) Planners have approved the construction of a flat despite fears it could spark the demise of one of Birmingham’s best-known pubs (Hare and Hounds in Kings Heath).

href="http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/fury-at-birmingham-city-councils-800k-1240098">Anger at council’s £800k bill (Birmingham Mail) Cash-strapped Birmingham City Council has been hit with a bill of more than £800,000 after employing outside help to file accounts the year it axed accounting staff.

href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-21182444">‘The vitals’ battling through the snow in the West Midlands (BBC) Article looking at how the Midlands has coped with the snow and ice this week praises gritting efforts in Birmingham.

Regional Headlines

href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-21185342">Girl ‘racially abused’ on street
/> An attack on a nine-year-old girl by a gang of boys is being treated as a racially aggravated crime, police say.

href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-21188853">Community fuels soup kitchen
/> Businesses, residents, churches and agencies in Wolverhampton support a soup kitchen and food parcel project as demand grows.

National Headlines

href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21190108">Clegg: Capital spending cut wrong
/> The coalition made a mistake in cutting back capital spending when it came into office, Nick Clegg says, as the UK’s latest GDP figures are awaited.

href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21176515">More snow forecast for parts of UK
/> There are warnings of further snow for the UK on Friday, as the weather continues to cause disruption in parts of the country.

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via birminghamnewsroom.com » Media Watch http://birminghamnewsroom.com/2013/01/media-watch-jan-24-2/ January 24, 2013 at 09:19AM

Top Birmingham City Council Stories:

‘Disgrace’ of council’s £800,000 accounting shambles (Birmingham Post) Birmingham City Council has been hit with a bill of more than £800,000 after having to get outside help to file accounts for the year2010-11. Details were revealed in the draft accounts for 2011-12 after they were opened for inspection

City’s £15m ‘call to arms’ to tackle youth jobs crisis (Birmingham Post) Sir Albert Bore pledged a new campaign will make a huge difference to the city’s youth unemployment rates – one of the worst in the country

Bore joins supercabinet to battle ‘immoral cuts’ (Birmingham Post) The council leader has been given the transport portfolio in the core cities ‘supercabinet’

English exam fiasco fails to quell success in city/Birmingham bucks trend to post best ever results (Birmingham Post and Birmingham Mail) Page of stories about Birmingham’s success in today’s national league tables. Cllr Brigid Jones quoted

School closures set firms back £100m as workers stay away (Birmingham Post) Business leaders have called for a more joined-up approach to school closures, estimating the city’s economy lost £100,000 in the cold snap

City’s smart thinking is ‘incomprehensible drivel’ (Birmingham Post) A vision statement for Birmingham’s bid to be at the forefront of the information age has been slated as ‘meaningless drivel’ by a council watchdog committee. Cllr James McKay rejected the criticism, saying it had been well-received by potential investors and the business community

Tip-top treasures saved from scrapheap (Birmingham Mail) The Re-users store at the council’s Norris Way recycling centre will stock restored items that would otherwise be thrown away. Cllr McKay quoted

Anger as snow puts freeze on bin collections (Birmingham Mail) Some rubbish has not been collected in Birmingham, Solihull and Dudley due to adverse weather.

Thumbs up to live viewings of meetings (Birmingham Mail) The decision to broadcast Birmingham council meetings online has raised the standard of debate, a report has concluded

Regional Headlines:

John Lewis hire 750 in Brum (Sun) Department store chain John Lewis wants to hire 750 staff for its new store opening in 2014 at New Street station

Signal failure hits rail services (BBC online) A number of train services are affected for a second day by signalling problems at New Street station

National Headlines:

Businesses divided over EU speech – The prime minister’s speech on a proposed referendum on EU membership has divided businesses

More immigration backlogs found – Immigration inspectors have found more UK Border Agency backlogs in its latest probe

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