Tamworth’s retail challenge Wren Kitchens arrives.

  It’s announced that Wren kitchens is coming to Tamworth and filling the void left by pound stretcher in the newly refurbished retail units.
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/wren-kitchens-announce-plans-ventura-15657011

image used from http://www.midlandsbusinessnews.co.uk/businesses-in-exciting-bid-to-unite-tamworth-town-centre-and-ventura-retail-parks/tamworth-cropped-os-map-v2-approximate-area-for-web/

  As ever this story has garnered some opinion on social media so I thought I'd share mine and I'm going to do this is two parts, firstly about Wren Kitchens and the other potential clients and secondly my view on the broader debate.

  I am really pleased to see Wren Kitchens come to Tamworth (I'm NOT in the market for a new kitchen). For me this represents a new stage in the retail offer Tamworth has, complementing Bensons for beds, oak furniture land etc. as a shift from 'convenience' shopping further and further down the line of quality bespoke goods. The draw of such products reaches far beyond the boundary of Tamworth and Staffordshire. bringing spend and secondary spend into Tamworth as well as employment. We are slowly building a reputation as a place to buy good quality products whether its a car, kitchen or furniture.

  I see regularly the comment whenever a company chooses to invest in Tamworth that we "should have" or "need" a Primark. can someone please convince me what the argument is and why we need a Primark. We can already shop for relatively cheap clothing with ASDA, Matalan etc, step up to the next level of spend with Next, New Look, Outfit, JD or M&S. so whats the fascination with Primark too? My personal opinion of Primark is one of those which fuels consumerism for the sake of consumerism, yes I'm generalising and primark does fill a gap in the market, but in Today's age we have mountains of waste building up of cheap unwanted furniture,  t-shirts and vest tops in every colour of the rainbow just being used once or twice and thrown away.

Companies come to Tamworth to make money and if they believe they can make a profit, these decisions aren't made on the hoof they are made as a result on very fine detailed analysis of information about footfall, spend levels regional draw, competition etc etc, And this brings me onto the second part- the broader debate.

The broader debate.
Tamworth, retail and the retail revolution.

Tamworth has for many years been debating the conflict between the Town centre and Ventura park, one of the few tools that Tamworth Borough Council has in this is the Local Plan Policy that units outside of the town centre must be of a minimum size large and where possible sell larger goods thus attempting to reduce the competition with the offer of the town centre, This is somewhat high level but the council simply does not have powers to get directly involved in retail.
Time for another reminder. Tamworth Borough Council does not set rent (aside from the few shops it owns) does not set business rates, does not run shops, does not have any say on what shops run their business in Tamworth (unless they need a license).

So the Challenge-
Whats the impact of the Internet?
Why do stores choose to come to or not to come to Tamworth.

   I worry about the future of retail shops full stop, and have said this before, with the onset of the Internet more and more spend is shifting away from shopping trips and more to sofa shopping. I know that in my household around 80% of Christmas presents were bought on line, the majority of which was delivered next day to my front door. This has been the same for the last three years and seems somewhat less stressful and easier than visiting stores,

    Now the worry is everyone does the same as my household we end up with less and less shops in either Tamworth's Town centre or Tamworth's Retail centre. so what can be done to save these assets. both others and I have speculated about stores offering samples would become prevalent and your purchases are made with the good being delivered to your property at an agreed time, so bridging the gap between traditional stores, Argos, and amazon. As time goes by I'm not sure this is actually going to become mainstream across the full range of products on offer in our stores,
  There are items though that will always attract that touchy feel purchasing and these include cars, furniture, kitchens, carpets etc where the purchaser has an experience spends time considering options and making very personal choices which you simply can't do on a glass or plastic screen.
So for me the Internet retail revolution is a danger to Tamworth's retail offer but i feel the stores here are beginning to look towards what I've described. (including Wren)


  Earlier I raised the question why do store choose to come to or not to come to Tamworth. whilst this is complex there are some simple things we can pull out of the methodology. I must state thou first, if you talk to people from Tamworth the competition is between the town centre and retail centre of ventura park if you talk to one of these stores looking at Tamworth its the competition between ANY part of Tamworth and Cannock, Burton, Solihull, Stoke, etc.

  For many years prior to the aspiration of a Primark many people in Tamworth wanted to see a Marks and Spencers, eventually we got one but it was a long journey. The key to many decision is not just location, infrastructure and the like but relates to data held about spend per head of visitor. Many stores are now in Tamworth and would never have come to the town centre because the average spend per head of customer was below their threshold. this is no longer the case at our retail park. larger brands with higher spends attract other higher brands with higher spends. of course this also means employment opportunities and growth in the local economy.

The key for me to the retail challenge is ensuring we get ahead of the curve in terms of retail as a leisure and link into eateries, beauty, fitness and well being. Tamworth geography and growth puts us in a great place to continue to thrive if we look forward and embrace the challenge not back at what we thought we had.

Green Bin charges, how did we end up here ?

Like many people in Tamworth I am not happy with the implementation of charging for garden waste to be collected. Yes I did vote for this in full council only a few months ago but this wasn’t a “put your hand up when you’re told we need this” it was in fact the position I had come to after many hours of contemplation and thought right up until just before the council meeting began. I thought that now the charge is imminent I’d share my thought processes.

Before I do I will just list a couple of facts about the charge.
1, the fee is £36 and this covers the calendar year regardless of when you pay within the next twelve months the renewal/repayment date will be December 2018 for 2019. So if you pay in June you get 6 months not 12.
2, it’s an annual fee, £36 for the year (not per collection as some have thought)
3, no one has to pay, if you don’t use your green bin you don’t pay.
4, the green bin service will cost around £250kpa extra due to changes to credits, it’s expected council will collect around £500kpa from the charges and I’ll pick up on what happens to the excess later.

So as I said I thought about this a lot and where did we come from to get here.
When I grew up we had metal dustbin about 90l capacity and a separate lid, everything could go in here including ashes from the fire in the lounge ( I wonder how we didn’t lose the lids?), then a Councillor by the name of John Garner came along and we moved into a privatised system with big black wheely Bins, Eventthing went on but not got ashes, and these were emptied weekly,
Back in 2004 the then labour  council introduced a recycling scheme where black bins were empties fortnightly, dry recyclate was sorted curbside (in blue boxes and we did lose lids) and in Tamworth the green bin was born for garden waste and emptied fortnightly. Contract was signed for a July implementation at the May election there was a change of political leadership and the Conservatives were left as my neighbour at the time put it “getting the blame for something that’s not your fault”. Gosh remember the litter from curbside when the wind blew. This was also the time that John Garner came back on charge of waste management in Tamworth.

John like many of he conservative group was not happy with the fortnightly food waste collection and the curbside recycling methods, with John’s passion we had all sorts of presentations for invessel composting and the like where the council would buy the machinery and then sell the compost product afterwards. The financial return simply didn’t add up to cover the investment in the machinery. Ooh looks like someone has now recycled this idea and is claiming it as their own!!!! It didn’t stack up back then.

Anyway John found a solution and we moved to foodwaste in Black Bins and green, at last weekly food waste collections, but it was costing a fortune. John also lead us in creating the joint service with our neighbours in Lichfield, this was a cheaper service than external providers could supply and saw the end of the blue boxes from pre conservative days, we now had three big wheels Bins green black and blue. I remember these negotiations and remember the fight to keep the lichfield approach of charging for a second garden waste bin out of Tamworth.
In the history I’ve explained above the council had managed to negotiate actual millions of pounds worth of savings in the service and maintained the costs within everyone’s council tax bill.

This brings us to where we are now.
The costs of running services continues to increase as demand for different types of service increase and with the backdrop of reducing government hand outs to councils some difficult decisions have to be made. When I talk about increased demand I wan things like homelessness prevention and adult social care.
As I mentioned above changes to recycling credits will increase costs of the green bin service by around £200-£250k a year and is currently paid for by council tax contributions. Whether you use the green bin or not whether you live in a house of a flat your council tax is paying for those who use the garden waste collection service.
The council is expecting to generate around £500kpa from the charges, so half the charge pays for the service and generates a ‘saving’ in council tax expenditure and a the rest of the income will be used to support other vital service that we need to grow to support the vulnerable. There’s also some complex stuff about recycling credits in the coatings and surplus but the headline figures are about there.

So as ever where does the council get cash from? £80m budget with council tax income of £3.5m, it’s got to come from somewhere so things like industrial unit rents, non domestic rates contribution (after all other agencies have their cuts) car parks and charging for services, and this is where the decision came from. The collection of garden waste is not a statutory service and is therefore optional, the council have a number of options with it including continue as we are, cease the service, charge for it etc etc, in the same way the council charges for other services.

Wow that’s made it sound simple :(  I’m still not happy we’re going down this line but what are the other options? Savings into the hundreds of thousands have been built into the budget over the years and will be again this year, underspends will be made and rolled back into the next year, gone are the days of “have budget will spend before year end”. I don’t want to see any vital services reduced to support new pressures, so whilst I’m not happy with the green waste charges I realise something has to give somewhere.

So it’s a green bin and £36 bill for me, unless I share it with a neighbour and spend £18 each.




Written on my phone not spell or grammar checked yet

How Do You Pick Yours ? Elections & Voting

Every year in Tamworth we have elections whether that be Borough/District, County, General or in recent times referendums and this means for me delivering leaflets and knocking doors. This year during April I walked 100.1 miles on the 'campaign trail', and as in every year on polling day I spoke to a voter who told me they had not had a leaflet of anyone (I delivered that street myself so I know they did). This and seeing many variations of signage on doors stating 'No cold callers', 'we do not need...', 'No junk Mail', 'posted mail only' etc made me think more and more about how people in 2017 decide who to vote for?
(This is not a politically motivated way of improving my campaigning its a genuine thing I've pondered.)

The picture has changed so much in a relatively short time, I remember electrons when some areas always returned councillors from a particular party and some parties even stopped producing leaflets for these areas. Now I feel society seems to be engaging again in politics and as a result campaigning has changed. It's not only society becoming more engaged there have also been some significant changes, the onset of 24 hour news and of course social media.
24 hour news is a great thing, well I say that. Recently I had a job where I worked nights and slept very little this exposed me to many hours of BBC and Sky news, the repetition was mind numbing and then in a way to stretch the news further there's the whole raft of opinion or editorial pieces thrown in often without clear identification. So no we have opinion and discussion drip feeding into the news and of course discussion and opinion is to an extent reliant on speculation.

Let's not forget the influence of social media!!!! Social media can be a great tool to get a message out to a large number of people. What social media doesn't do is discriminate, anyone can post anything they like via a variety of platforms and once that has been shared a couple of times it's difficult to control and becomes perpetuating, we saw so much incorrect information during the with referrendum and the US presidential election the messages of the conpaigns were often lost but this still influences people's vote.

Just 2 more points I'd like to share before finishing for now.
It is said that parents influence the vote of their offspring until on average the age of 24 where the offspring will decide for themselves.
I saw a news stand/box containing The Sun newspaper last year, on this was printed "The Sun, for Entertainment,gossip,sport". It never mention news anywhere!

I don't want to go into solution mode as I would like to know what other people's thoughts are on voting influence. What makes you vote a particular way?
Leaflets ?
A knock at the door ?
Ever read a manifesto ?
National papers ?
Radio & TV ?
Friends?
Family?
Social media?

Tamworth council budget 2017, oh and there is a new play area in there

Another year and another budget is presented to full council, this is my 17th year here but once I left the meeting due to sickness and missed the vote.This year feels a little different, this years budget is a growth budget! And is happening at a time when other authorities are announcing reductions to services.
Just for information Tamworth has a council of 30 members and the vote on the budget went 19 for 1 against so a clear majority of 95% in favour of the budget. (I believe I counted correctly). This in itself is unusual and before people jump up and down about abstentions I have a clear view if you have abstained you haven't voted, you are elected to make a decision abstaining is not a decision.
The meeting was also very positive and for the first time in years I chose not to speak and influence the vote, this was mainly because with the exception of a few niggly points there were no real arguments for or against.

So on to the budget,

• it balances for the 3 year term and sees a council tax increase of £3.87 per year for the majority of Tamworth residents, whilst some could see an increase of £5 per year going to Tamworth Borough Council, (any other increases are for other public services)
• £50m investment in housing including investment in new social housing regenerating tinkers green and the Kerria centre.
• Savings/Income targets for green waste being reviewed an included, (more on this when I have details but we all know who voted for the savings, its the detail that was not in the report).
• £60k spend available for a play area. 

There's loads more in there (click here for the report) but I wanted to highlight the play area.

It was only a few days before this budget was passed that I read the BBC/LGA article warning of play areas falling into disrepair and being closed. And this reminded me of something I was involved with in 2003/4. As councillors the late Jerry Pinner and my self visited all the play areas in Tamworth logging and taking pictures of the state of the play areas in Tamworth which at the time had suffered from neglect and had items removed leaving steel stumps in the ground. We took this back to the council and began to put pressure on for play areas to be invested in.
It was long after this that we became part of the leading group at the council and immediately set about reviewing the situation. The decision was made to build new play areas and support them with repair funding, A policy on play was developed by a scrutiny committee chaired by Danny Cook and taken to cabinet paving the way for 3 strategic play areas, Wiggington park, Castle grounds and Dosthill park. there were also recommendations for a few smaller play areas in other areas to serve local communities but not the number we saw when the estates were built.

Photo borrowed/stolen from http://www.tamworthcastle.co.uk/castle-grounds 

So Tamworth received a £250,000 new play area in the castle ground and as councillors we were lambasted by a minority, mostly about design. albeit at the time one of the best play areas in the area. Wigginton Park and Dosthill park had smaller investments but also had climbing rocks etc for slightly older youths. It was all about diversionary activity. If we can get teens to sit on the climbing rocks and do what teens do then they aren't doing it on the swings. I personally think we should have more swings all over the place, they are like benches but more fun for all ages. whilst on the subject lets not forget about the partnership work moving and improving the skate park

The key for me is informal diversionary activities, This is what I wrote about late last year (follow this link) http://jeremysnewsthoughts.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/ninefoot-park-place-to-play-idea.html
I know realise that entry could do with more info. We have an opportunity here to get this play funding spent in a really good way to divert some of the irritations that young people bring. There is nothing worse than a kid kicking a ball against a garage door, they are only doing it because there is no one else out playing and on your own the ball just doesn't come back and its boring.

So that's my ideas for a play area to serve Belgrave and Wilnecote (and my street as it happens).

But as an aside, does anyone remember the radio controlled car track we had on Robeys lane, I wonder what the market demand would be like for something like that in a couple of places in Tamworth, its only takes a bit of concrete and landscaping.(blog on potholes to follow don't worry) This could be like the BMX track, used formally and informally.

Squirrels on pills

 This week The Times newspaper reported an alternative way of controlling grey squirrel populations in a hope to protect the native red squirrel and also native trees for future generations, Read it here.

Its estimated there are 3 million grey squirrels in the UK compared to around 200,000 reds, oh and there might be around 25,000 black squirrels. since greys arrived reds have been squeezed out of the uk by these immigrants (I suspect as they came from the usa Brexit ain't going to bother them). i didn't realise that aside from the impact on the red squirrel greys also strip bark from native trees leaving them exposed to disease. Oh and Greys also carry Squirrel Pox !

Photo borrowed from BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7573535.stm

So why have I decided to write about this ?

I suppose it links to my "End of Conkers" entry in October, The British countryside is changing !!!

The first thing that springs to mind is "oh Red Squirrels are cute with their hairy ears". Then I thought, I wonder when i last saw a squirrel, well it was the other day on the way to the school run and yes it was grey squirrel, I don't think I have ever seen a black squirrel. And this made me ask the question  is it better to see a red squirrel or no squirrel at all ?

Living in Tamworth Squirrels are not uncommon and its always fun to spot them when out with my children. 

So the suggestion supported by Prince Charles is not to cull but to put contraceptives in Nutella in specialised traps that will only feed grey squirrels and stop them breeding, this will reduce the population from 3 million to 300 thousand in 5 years. What the article doesn't tell us is how fast the red squirrel population will grow with the absents of greys. I'm no expert in this field either but surely greys have now to a large extent become a part of the british eco system and so I would suggest that any action must be carefully measured. The last think we need is a Myxomatosis crisis but in squirrels. 

I don't know what the answer is to be honest but what i do know is human intervention brought them here and I always worry about human intervention to try to reduce any human created issue, I have way to many questions to get to a conclusion including Is there actually a problem to be solved here or a change to our country. I'm sure we have done more damage to the country side through industry than we care to measure.

I've sort of ran out of steam with this as I'm not sure of my conclusion. 

There is something that doesn't feel right about this but I'm not sure what, for now I am going to enjoy looking out for squirrels (like the one below outside St. Edithas church Tamworth) and leave the debate for those who have actual knowledge and not based solely on emotion. 

Housing crisis !

There are 25 million homes in the UK housing a population of 65,255,164 (at time of writing) with an average age of 40. As the population continues to grow the government aims to build 1 million more homes before 2020, which equates to a growth of 4%

So first thing, do we need more homes ? according to the ONS the answer is yes and the main reason for population growth is the birth rate being higher than the death rate.

Births and deaths by year

Lets not ignore the current situation with housing prices in both the rented and owner occupier markets. To me these high prices are simply a case of supply and demand, there's high demand and short supply so competition drives prices up.

I think there are 2 different parts to this discussion, one is about who, where and how, the other is about the type, style and build of housing.

Not a year goes by in Tamworth without the question being asked, does Tamworth need more homes? and the supplementary question where else can more houses go we have built nearly everywhere now and brownfield is running out.

 The government has pushed house building for local authorities and has incentivised local councils to be pro house building. This has been a 2 pronged attack and may well have been necessary for many places but I have repeatedly said I feel Tamworth has provided above its share of new housing over the last 50 years. So what is the incentive to continue to approve housing? New Homes Bonus. This bonus is as ever not entirely simple but the council will get 6 years worth (reducing to 4 years)  of council tax for each new property completed from the government as well as the council tax collected via the normal means. OK its a bit more involved than this but I'm keeping it simple. And at the same time the austerity measures we see mean that all councils no matter of geography or population will have to be self sustaining and no longer rely on an annual government grant. I personally think this is a good scheme particularly in prompting local authorities to start allowing new build, Its a fact that for the last 40 years not enough housing has been allowed and now we are in this situation of too few houses. Tamworth however has never stopped building houses and has made its contribution.

 So the pressure is on to squeeze more housing in.

 Late last year we saw on Sky news, and read in news papers that the government sees 100,000 pre- fabricated houses could provide some of the answers as they are cheap and can be put up in a day. I think there might be something in this as long as these prefabs are done correctly and are either given a appropriate life span to be replaced or are built in a way that does not store up the same problem for a near future time.

   Pre-fabricated housing is nothing new and looking at today's media you could very easily think that the only time we have used them is during the post war 1940's and 1950's. but this is not the case, it was not many years ago that John Prescott visited Castle Bromwich to watch prefabricated timber frames for housing being put together. the company in question was Space 4 and the visit was featured on  BBC west midlands . for those that aren't aware at the time Space4 were supplying timber houses to Westbury homes who built a brick wall layer around the timber house, this reduced the price and increased the speed of building and happened a lot in the early 2000's though I'm not sure if it still does.

  I have often taken my family away on holiday and whilst its only been for short periods I have always noticed or even admired the efficient use of space that static caravans have. there are many people in the UK who live in static caravans and in mobile homes. if the efficiency of this type of housing could be used when building in the future we may be able to provide cheaper quality housing with more space around them in the same tight land availability. My grandmother lived in sunset close in her later years and whilst it was a great bungalow the space was certainly not efficiently used, with thick walls, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and lounge all connected through a hallway/corridor without any interconnecting rooms. This to me screams out to be learnt from when building smaller dwellings. I've stayed in caravans less that 12ft x 40ft with 2 en suites a kitchen diner, lounge and 3 bedrooms

   So maybe small units with high spacial efficiency of a high quality prefab type may well be part of the answer.........but please lets not build stacks of rabbit hutches.

 I have argued that if each village in the midlands were to expand in a sympathetic way, maybe 100 homes on each, they could maintain the village renaissance and address some of the housing crisis. The side benefit would be supporting local shops post offices and pubs assuming the village had not already lost theirs. This is a sensitive point and would need to be done right to maintain character.
Instead the councils of Lichfield and North Warwickshire are that afraid of development in their back gardens they are fully intent of building on our borders!!! Robeys lane to the M42 and the north of Tamworth along Lichfield's borders will become extensions of Tamworth with green space between them and the town or city they pay their council tax to. Tamworth residents are being ignored by our neighbours and so we get development times 3. .

God forbid that this point is linked to the below on as I do not what a Judge Dredd style megalopolis of the mega cities

   One solution has already been tried and tested with various levels of success and that is building upwards, the success of this type of housing very much depends on where you are in the world and the assumed usages these have in many parts of the UK. In Tamworth do we have flats and maisonettes or do we offer Luxury condos with a river view. Lets face it we have flats and apartments which are often used to support the affordable housing need of a development to gain the planning permission and stay compliant.

Tamworth has it's fair share of apartment type accommodation but the demand for 2 bed properties is huge and whilst I believe an individual must be able to sit outside in the fresh air not everyone wants to have a garden.

 I remember one of the early Tamworth Listens where a member of the public suggested we build along the river with luxury apartments and the ground floor ones having moorings etc. Another suggestion I heard many years prior to councils being given the right to charge market rents for housing (should they wish) and this was to one by one empty the H block in Stonydelph as people left so not re let, Then once empty redevelop these as luxury apartments with panoramic views of Tamworth, generating an income for the housing department and raising the building out of some of the problems it had at the time.


I'm not sure what the ultimate answer is but I do know we need to look at all the options available and be creative with our solutions.

So becoming a bit nimby myself, Tamworth has done its bit and its now in the situation of going over and above whilst others haven't pulled their weight.


NOW THE BIG QUESTION..
house building is one thing but infrastructure MUST be in place to serve new development.. This is a topic for a whole new entry but expansion does not offer the same opportunities as new towns.

....MORE ON INFRASTRUCTURE TO FOLLOW

Please follow this link to see some of my thoughts on Tamworth Town Centre

Planning, Tamworth's town centre, retail and leisure

     I tend not to comment on planning meeting or decisions after my points have been made in the meeting, but I feel it might be time to start doing so; well at least I'm going have my say on a few recent things not just planning committee meetings but also some of the wider issues that affect Tamworth.
    It is often tempting for the public and committee members to say things like "I'd prefer to see a shop here instead of this application for a cafe" or "I think this land is better suited to shops than housing" but the committee can only consider the application in front of them for approval or not, the committee cannot refuse an application just on speculative desire, if it fits policy it's difficult to argue against.

In January we had planning meeting with 4 applications for discussion and decision. 1 was a change to existing, 1 was a new application following refusal of a previous scheme, 1 was a change to a scheme and 1 was final details about a foot bridge.

 One was for a new footbridge over the Birmingham Derby railway line giving pedestrian access to the Anker Valley development keeping pedestrians off the carriageway.  The main controversy on this one has already been aired and discussed with the Anker Valley development and at previous committees so was simply around final details on the bridge itself. Previously the committee had been asked its collective opinion on the style of the footbridge and what would be acceptable or not such as a high arch bridge or low profile, enclosed roof etc.

But the application that garnered the most discussion was that of the new multi-use development adjacent to the co-op garage opposite the former site of the Jolly Sailor public house. This was the 4th time the committee had been presented with information of the development. They received an issues paper, which is an opportunity to raise issues which the committee feels are important prior to application, then a planning app which in this case ignored the comments made by the committee at issue paper stage. This first application was refused as it did not meet either policy or the views given by the committee. The cycle was repeated and this time the new design and plans were approved. For the committee this was an important applications as not only does it sit next to the old Co-op garage site which will be coming forward for development at some point it is also located on the route of one of the Gateways to the town centre which the borough and county council have been investing in through the gateways project over the last 6 years. Evidence of this can be seen in the works done to Ladybridge surfacing, changes to the pedestrian crossing on Riverdrive and also the works around Tamworth Train station roundabout.  The ultimate goal is to marry up the 2 different offers of Ventura Park and the town centre and walking onto the Train station.

Tamworth Borough Council and many other groups and individuals have been grappling with the challenge of keeping the town centre vibrant in an ever changing world of retail and leisure.
There are a few things than need to be stated before we go too far.
 
Tamworth Borough Council-

• does not set business rates
• does not own Ankerside or most of the town centre properties
• does not and did not own the land formally the precinct
• does not operate bus services
• does not maintain or build highways (but Staffordshire County Council does)
• does not have any control of what planning applications are received but all must be considered
• Retail has changed and is still changing rapidly

The issues start with what does Tamworth have to offer. Tamworth has Ventura Park as we know it locally but it's actually a collections of sites, This area is one of the biggest retail attractions of the Midlands, it's not on the scale of Trafford Cnetre or the Bullring or the big city high street experience but in fact there is a lot more there than we realise and take for granted. I know people who travel to Ventura park as an activity in shopping and tell me they have been to Tamworth. And actually the traffic issues are nowhere near a bad as we say or think they are I travel through there at various times of the day without problems, in fact I often choose that route to get to the town centre between 4:45pm and 6pm.

So what's the blocker for the town centre? Why aren't these shops there?
Retail has changed and is still changing rapidly, the retail units on offer in traditional town centres are simply not as suitable as they were in the past. There are different demands on vehicle access, different demands on safe pedestrian areas and the size of retail units in demand has changed significantly.

As mentioned earlier the planning committee at Tamworth often receives planning issues papers where a developer will allow early discussion of a proposal and get a feel for the bigger issues the committee will have on a development, this week we have had sight of an application for changes to car parking at Ventura and a the redevelopment of the Gungate Precinct. Yes it's another outline permission maintaining the outline permission given in the past.

 So what should be done ?

In the past I have had some of  my ideas reported in the Tamworth Herald including a tramway from the station along Victoria road to the town centre and a series of venues 'New Orleans' style along this route. yes maybe this was just blue sky thinking but it was still an idea.

As I have mentioned before retail is changing in a way no one predicted, or at least didn't predict well and in the longer term I do worry about all retail shops with the progression of internet shopping so what should be built in Tamworth?

I was walking through Ankerside this week looking at the shops that were open and noted a number of jewellery shops, hair and beauty outlets, and opticians. This got me thinking could Anker side move away from traditional retail and become a place to be pampered? hair salons, perfume and make up outlets, Jewellery outlets, nail bars, tanning salons etc etc, this would probably need so proactive chasing on behalf of Ankerside management but it's just food for thought.
And whilst I'm just imagining the opportunities here's another, should the Henry Boot development on the precinct be mixed retail and leisure or should it be heavily weighted on leisure and becoming a match for Star City in Birmingham, More leisure, restaurants, cafes, venues and a few retail outlets that fit the theme of the development, maybe even some nice flats and apartments similar to the top of Ankerside. Again this would take a shift in the approach of the owner.

I'm hoping the above stimulates some thought and debate outside the "another nail in the coffin" or " we need a Primark" or " too many card and phone shops". You never know the glass might be half full if we make it half full if we use the town centre for retail it may stay as a retail centre, its a bit like  local pub if they are empty the pub will close.

Consumer sovereignty will prevail

Guy Fawkes Night

When I started typing I had no idea where this was going to go, so an unexpected entry here!

This weekend many of us watched bonfires and fireworks lighting up the sky.
    Tamworth Borough Council put on yet another fantastic free outdoor event with tens of thousands watching a superb display, this event was re introduced by then Councillor Bruce Boughton who fought for its return as a safer way to enjoy the celebration and bring communities together.

It was whilst I was stood watching the fireworks I wondered how many people there have thought about what they are celebrating and how much tradition has been maintained and how much has been lost.

  On the 5th November in Great Britain we are celebrating a foiled terrorist attack on parliament which was religiously driven. Guy Fawkes was found guarding explosives under parliament to kill the then king James I and replace him with a catholic king. Once Fawkes was caught the people of London celebrated by lighting fires and not to long later the day was made a public holiday.
   Now we have fireworks and a bonfire but some tradition is ebbing away like the penny for the guy, I vaguely remember doing this once or twice. dress up a guy put it in a wheel barrow and walk the street knocking doors asking for cash. it seems this has been replaced with trick or treat, I might have to push my kids to bring that back next year.

     In the past this celebration has been used as a way of promoting sectarianism but fortunately these days are over in relation to religious divide but not all sectarian activities on November the 5th have ended. This weekend we would have read the news of anti capitalist protests in London, (I must add I do not have a problem with peoples right to protest) we read that there had been a number of arrests during the protest and prior to it starting police had requested people remain well behaved. Protesting is a great way of bringing attention to your cause and this years seemed calmer than in the past but i wonder how sensitive or over sensitive we have become to protests. November the 5th has been used in previous centuries for protests between class divisions particularly in Guildford etc and this is what we see to an extent in London.
I am aware of Anonymous and their adoption of the Guy Fawkes mask but they just didn't fit into this blog aside from the role they play in protests, like many other groups.

  And then we have the towns that burn  effigies, I have to say whilst i would find it quite offensive and scary if someone had chosen to burn an effigy of me. I do find it slightly amusing that CNN and other US news channels are reporting "England is burning trump effigies". it is interested though to look at the other effigies of famous people that have been voted on and burnt in the past.
watch CNN's video here


 So I wonder how much of a conflict in 'tradition' we have on Guy Fawkes night and is there a place for all elements to celebrate in their own way.
      I do hope there are two things that I will push, bring back the public holiday (for the right reasons its a long way from august to christmas) and bring back penny for the guy. Lets make sure we enjoy what we have and keep traditions alive.

What about Brum !!!!!!! Another run way for Heathrow

Today saw the announcement that the government has agreed to pursue a third run way at Heathrow.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37760187

http://news.sky.com/story/heathrow-airport-expansion-now-comes-the-hard-part-10631608


Some have said it is needed to support british industry, some have said london needs it, some have said it will never happen and some have even resigned at the announcement.

I say What about Brum ?

I did have the pleasure of working for Birmingham Airport in 2013 this was a time when the the Uk's airport capacity was being looked at and a number of airports and ideas came forward. This was when Boris was mayor and he had is Island idea. This was a news story at the time showing the proposed runway.

During my time there I was convinced that expansion of Birmingham Airport was not only feasible but also advantageous and beneficial not only to the midlands region but also London and the rest of the UK. Today I still believe this is true.

Not only is Birmingham airport served by Birmingham International train station but also links straight onto the M42, M6, M5, M40 and  M6TOLL giving fantastic links to the whole of the UK in a mere few hours. Hold on here's something joined up, Birmingham airport could be a vital link connecting London to the Northern Powerhouse.

And be careful we might have too much joined up thinking here. The expansion of Birmingham Airport instead of Heathrow would create a justifiable argument for HS2, something the project could certainly have done with. The proposals that were made in 2013 used HS2 and an expanded Birmingham Airport as a midlands hub for travel. this would not only lift the region but also pull some of the wealth from the south east and up into the country without complete displacement, all in easy reach

Tamworth would benefit hugely from this with employment opportunity at the airport and business development in Tamworth as well as potential tourism in the region. I am not going to repeat all the arguments that have been documented before but I will conclude.

   An expanded Birmingham Airport is a better option than Heathrow and I would urge all MP's in the region to fight for this before the final vote in the house for the Heathrow 3rd runway

Bonkers it's the end of the Conkers !!!

Conkers to run out within 15 years !!!! and it doesn't look like its due to Brexit (phew sigh of relief)

http://news.sky.com/story/conker-trees-could-vanish-from-uk-in-15-years-10617877

   This story really concerns me for a couple of reasons. I grew up with older brothers and a conker tree at the end of the front garden, so grew up playing conkers. To lose them is to lose the opportunity of my children having similar childhood memories, or is it?

   I've noticed and discussed with people in the area the brown leaves of the Horse Chestnut tree and until now we have been at a loss, but we now understand what is happening to the trees themselves. a moth from Europe (oh hold on! more immigrants from the borderless Europe, thought we'd voted to keep them out?) well it's their caterpillars that are causing the problem eating the leaves from the inside out causing them to go brown early and conkers not to form fully. Combine this with mature trees being cut down due to their size or potential danger of diseased limbs and that these trees are not being planted as they used to be due to their relatively short lifespan (apparently it's councils according to the article) and we have less and less conker trees with a prediction of no more in 15 years time. 

 So back to the game of conkers I remember from my childhood. 

It must have been 4 years ago when I took my 2 sons to collect some conkers I had spotted next to the road in Bolehall, I took them home, bored a hole in them and mounted the conkers on a boot lace. The next hour was a series of

"what do we have to do?"

"I can't do it"

"he won't let me hit his"

"dad can you take me out to get some too"

Fun was clearly being had by all. I posted a comment on my facebook wall about the boys playing conkers and quickly got a comment "Have you Health and Safety checked this game?" this was tongue in cheek comment but I wonder what truth was in the comment. since then I hadn't thought about it until a few weeks ago. 

 Again this year I walked out with my 8 year old to collect conkers near Ninefoot park, we found loads just on the path. This surprised me as its a route for school kids so I asked my kids why there would be so many.  The answer I got was shocking, the kids just pick up the fallen green spikey cases, throw them at the floor to see them split and then leave the brown shiny conker. It appears to me that this may satisfy a short attention span and a sense of destruction but it goes no further. I actually wonder if these kids actually know how to play conkers, why have their parents not shown them? maybe their parents didn't know, maybe I hadn't realised how lucky I was a s a kid to have a conker tree at the end of my front garden, the things I have taken for granted. 

I wonder how many people are as panicked as I am about the end of the conker, maybe my concern is just because this great tree produces conkers rather than the environment, It's amazing what people think is the most important issue of the day. 

I may write a blog about the oak trees challenge with Knopper Gall wasps and Clanker later this week. 

When I grew up we were warned about rain forests being destroyed and the next ice age or global warming, I don't remember worrying about our own woodlands and parks, our mighty oak and the horse chestnut tree. 

so what shall I do?

A)collect conkers and teach kids to play?

or

B)collect conkers and plant them?

or

C)maybe both A&B

Anti-bullying hero

http://news.sky.com/video/man-runs-401-marathons-in-401-days-10606598

This is a great story, chap gets bullied and turns his life around to do so much as both a personal achievement and a great fundraiser.

Earlier this week I attended a meeting looking at Multi Agency Centres in schools I'm Tamworth. These were set up to focus service delivery of a number of agencies serving young people. I'm not going to go into the full details but the biggest thing that young people said they got from these centres in Tamworth schools was having someone to talk to.

The sky story about Ben Smith shows what can be achieved and shows that even when someone is feeling low they can turn things round. This guy should be held up as an inspiration to many, especially with some of the tragic stories we hear of where young people have even taken their own lives.

Today the pressures on kids seem so much bigger than the things I had to deal with at school. When I was at school home was a safe haven but now with technology and social media etc there are few let and fewer places to be safe. Thinking about it I was lucky, some kids don't have that feeling of security. I have to say I am really pleased the centres I mentioned above are being used for what some would say is a warm and fluffy chat with no measurable outcomes. Sometime the none measurables are the most meaningful.

I really hope my children can speak to me or their mom and if not I really hope they can visit their health and wellbeing centre at school if they ever need to speak to someone.

So to conclude, a cracking service in place in Tamworth with the Mac's.

401 marathons in 401 WOW
  true hero well done, I hope the bullied gain from your work

Changing Place needed in Tamworth Castle Grounds

Quote George Osborne in Manchester 16th September 2016 09:20.

"Frankly when you're in politics and do jobs like I have done you put out ideas and launch initiatives that don't get off the ground"

    This is the mantra I am going to use to justify posting ideas on this blog, what's the worst that can happen? the idea doesn't get off the ground.

You wouldn't go barefoot in a public toilet?

No?

So why is okay that disabled vulnerable children & adults are changed on public toilet floors ? Their lives and dignity matter.

Imagine having to change your son, daughter or partner on the floor of a public toilet.

Imagine how you would feel if you were that person on that floor. Sadly there are thousands of disabled people and families who do not have to use their imagination. For them this is a daily occurrence.

Standard accessible toilets meet the needs of some disabled people - but not all. Over  230,000 people in the UK need personal assistance to use the toilet or change continence pads, including people with profound and multiple learning disabilities, spinal injuries and people living after a stroke.

Without appropriate facilities, carers are forced to change continence pads on public  toilet floors or wait until they go home. This is unhygienic, undignified and unacceptable!

Specialist toilet and changing rooms enable people with profound and multiple learning disabilities, their carers,  assistants and families to enjoy days out. Enjoying time together shopping, visiting attractions, enjoying outdoor events or just spending time together

My suggestion is create a Community Interest Company to take on the day to day running of the public toilets in the Castle Grounds and take on the building as a lease (to be negotiated) with TBC. Once this is secured  an extension of 5 x 12 m is to be built on the western elevation of the building to facilitate 2 family changing rooms catering for adults with extra needs (including stroke victims, the disabled, those with dwarfism etc) baby changing and those who need to be accompanied. Increasing the capacity of the baby changing facilities as well as providing adult facilities. The building would also house a small ‘shop’ selling essentials for those caught short supplying nappies, wipes, pads etc, as well as providing a First aid post.

Each of these rooms will include 2 toilets at different levels, 2 sinks at different levels, a host, adjustable changing table, shower, privacy screening within the room, wet room flooring, waste bins, shelving for bags etc as a minimum. It is envisaged that the 2 family rooms could also be used for emergency triage and so 2 full first aid kits will be available along with a community Defibrillator.

With regards services, the build will need improvement to energy efficiency and improved use of natural lighting where possible, the 2 rooms themselves will need to have underfloor heating to maintain temperature for people getting undressed and redressed without drafts etc.