Birmingham Post - News Blog

Now Birmingham loses £s as well as apostrophes

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:00:47 +0000

Birmingham City Council, the local authority that decided to ban the use of apostrophes in road signs, is spending a lot of money on developing a new website and when officials tested the super-duper IT they discovered.......yes, you've guessed it, there were no apostrophes.
That might not have been so bad, but there were no pound signs either - which was a bit embarrassing given that the new system is supposed to enable citizens to pay council tax bills on line and make inquiries about other services.

Government drive for new homes will destroy Birmingham's leafy suburbs

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:24:25 +0000

Former West Midlands Minister Liam Byrne is not a man to say something for no reason at all.
So when Mr Byrne made a point of mentioning planned housing growth in Birmingham, his audience ought to have taken note.
Addressing the Be Birmingham strategic partnership - a gathering of executives from the city council, other public bodies and business leaders - Mr Byrne characteristically laid into the Conservative-run city council for delivering below-average schools and for lacking in ambition.
And then, in a section of the speech almost thrown away he began to talk about the number of new homes Birmingham must plan to build up to 2026.

Liam Byrne warns Birmingham schools must do better

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 10:58:03 +0000

Deputy city council leader Paul Tilsley must have found it difficult to control his famously short temper when forced to listen to Hodge Hill Labour MP Liam Byrne's analysis of the state Birmingham finds itself in.
Byrne, who is the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and a former West Midlands Minister, was giving a keynote speech at the annual summit of Be Birmingham - the city strategic partnership chaired by Coun Tilsley.
If anyone thought this would be the usual back-slapping gathering of the great and good, they were quickly disabused by Mr Byrne.

Backbench fury over "nil-cost" to council claim over NEC wages

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:07:35 +0000

The mind-numbing futility of life on the backbenches at Birmingham City Council has been exposed yet again, this time by the hand-wringing and gnashing of teeth over £15,000 salaries to the local authority's non-executive NEC directors.
When the matter came before the full council last week - with a recommendation to make the payments to city leader Mike Whitby, his deputy Paul Tilsley, cabinet member Neville Summerfield and opposition Labour leader Sir Albert Bore - most of the cannon-fodder councillors far removed from the very small Whitby-loop didn't have a clue what they were being asked to vote for.

Martin Mullaney takes unusual vow of silence after joining the cabinet

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:30:29 +0000

No show at the leisure scrutiny committee from Birmingham city councillor Martin Mullaney.
The new cabinet member for leisure, sport and culture declined an invitation to come along and give his views on the sprawling portfoilo.
It was possibly the first time that the normally outspoken Moseley Liberal Democrat has refused to share his thoughts with anyone who is prepared to listen.
He was also unusually quiet at Monday's cabinet meeting, his second since being appointed, where he made no verbal contribution.

Whitby wins, but margin of victory remains top secret

Tue, 19 May 2009 16:02:48 +0000

Birmingham Conservatives have managed to achieve something that even the world's most ruthless dictators could only have dreamt of.
Mike Whitby was re-elected leader of Birmingham City Council on Monday night in a secret ballot, but nobody knows how many votes he received.
It's all top secret, you see.
The 49-strong Tory group takes the view that it's not the done thing to reveal figures.
All a bit grubby, old boy. Like talking about how much you earn in front of the ladies. Bad form.

Whitby confident of winning crucial vote

Mon, 18 May 2009 16:50:02 +0000

Supporters of Mike Whitby are increasingly confident about the result of tonight's election for the leadership of Birmingham City Council's Conservative group.
The audacious challenge to Whitby by Randal Brew is said to have come badly unstuck following publication last Friday of a 1,000-word manifesto containing a thinly veiled attack both on policies pursued by Whitby and his alleged personality failings.
Were Brew to win tonight, he would be named city leader at the annual council meeting tomorrow.

Randal sticks the knife into Mike, with style

Fri, 15 May 2009 16:49:21 +0000

Randal Brew's manifesto for the leadership of Birmingham City Council is a stiletto-sharp masterpiece designed to knife Mike Whitby without ever once mentioning him.
The document is called Time for Change - a theme traditonally favoured by those who wish to overthrow established governments.
And true to form, the first few sentences praise Coun Whitby's five-year-old administration for having "much to be proud of".
Failing departments have been turned around, council tax rises kept low and investment has been brought to the city, Brew notes approvingly.
Not much need for change there, then, you might think.
He even takes care to claim, perhaps slightly disingenuously, that "my challenge is not based on a fundamental change of policy".
The rest of the document makes it quite clear that this is exactly what Coun Brew is intent on delivering - plenty of policy changes, fundamental or not.

Secretive Whitby v Brew tussle makes the case for Birmingham to have an elected mayor

Tue, 12 May 2009 12:38:38 +0000

The fight between Mike Whitby and Randal Brew for the leadership of Birmingham City Council, which is being conducted entirely behind closed doors, demonstrates brilliantly the democratic argument in favour of directly elected mayors.
Next Monday, 49 Tory councillors, mostly middle-aged men, all white, will gather in a private meeting to decide who should be their group leader and therefore run the second largest city in the United Kingdom for the next year at least.
Ultimate power, therefore, lies in the hands of the 25 councillors required to either re-elect Whitby, or appoint Brew to replace him.

Numbers begin to add up for Randal Brew, but Whitby is in denial

Thu, 07 May 2009 11:12:25 +0000

Five days after Randal Brew admitted he wants Birmingham City Council leader Mike Whitby's job, the number-crunchers are beginning to take an interest in what is shaping up to be a fascinating contest.
The general consensus among Tory councillors I have spoken to is that Brew has a reasonable chance of winning.
With just over a week to go until the 49-strong Conservative group meets to decide whether Whitby should continue as leader, the feeling is that Brew is close to succeeding in stage one of his strategy, that is to sign up 20 supporters.
This, if true, will give him the chance to proceed to stage two, eking out the 25 votes he needs to win assuming everyone turns up and no one abstains.

Whitby and Brew strangely out of the picture, while Sir Bernard makes a helpful intervention

Mon, 04 May 2009 14:23:31 +0000

The fight between Mike Whitby and Randal Brew for the leadership of Birmingham City Council is being described optimistically by Tory insiders as an example of the kind of thing that happens in politics from time to time.
Whitby's mates have been quick to condemn challenger Brew as an innocent abroad, adding that these disagreeable little events have to be expected when someone has been running the council for five years.
Leaders always make a few enemies and there's bound to be a little dissent in the camp, but it's nothing that Mike can't deal with.
They're all friends really, it's suggested.

Randal Brew power bid fine as far as Lib Dems concerned, says Martin Mullaney

Mon, 04 May 2009 10:27:44 +0000

The first indication that Liberal Democrats would be happy to continue working in a coalition with the Conservatives if Randal Brew becomes leader of Birmingham City Council has come from a senior councillor.
Martin Mullaney broke his group's silence, insisting that it didn't matter much whether Brew's bid to oust Mike Whitby as Tory leader succeeded or not.
Both candidates were OK as far as the Lib Dems were concerned.

Whitby leadership challenge gets nasty: Rudge sticks the knife into an old friend

Sun, 03 May 2009 18:32:25 +0000

Randal Brew, the Tory backbencher who is plotting to oust Birmingham City Council leader Mike Whitby, has been given an early taste of the venom that is certain to fly in his direction if he dares to go through with his challenge.
Alan Rudge, cabinet member for equalities and human resources and a close political ally of Whitby's, lost no time in sticking the knife in to Brew.
Describing him as an old friend of many years standing, Rudge proceeded to plunge the blade up to the hilt by adding that Randal Brew simply doesn't have the experience, the right qualities or the toughness required to lead Birmingham City Council.

Mike Whitby could be ousted as Birmingham City Council leader

Sun, 03 May 2009 14:11:16 +0000

Birmingham City Council leader Mike Whitby has two weeks to save his political career after it was confirmed he is likely to be challenged for the leadership of the local authority's controlling Conservative group.
Former Lord Mayor Randal Brew is understood to have agreed to put his name forward at the Tory AGM on May 18 after discontent over what backbenchers see as Whitby's "arrogance" and failure to consult colleagues over key policy issues boiled over into open revolt.
If Coun Brew can gain support from 24 of his colleagues, he will become the new Conservative group leader and be confirmed as leader of Britain's biggest council after the annual mayor making ceremony on May 19.

Birmingham will pay the price for dropping Grand Central station plan

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:05:30 +0000

Now that the government has finally found enough money to allow the £600 million refurbishment of New Street Station and the Pallasades shopping centre to proceed it is time to stop pretending that this project will do very much to improve the passenger experience on trains running through Birmingham.
As Lord Adonis, the Transport Minister, has admitted, the hugely expensive makeover for New Street will not actually improve the capacity of the track and tunnels to cope with growing customer demand for more services.
Crucially, it will prove almost impossible to bring the next generation of high speed trains either to New Street or to Moor Street, according to Adonis.