I received a notice through my door giving less than a days notice about a tornado meeting organised by Sparkbook Ward for local residents 1pm the following day, 9th August, at Lahore restaurant, Ladypool Road. Arriving a bit late I walked in on some council feedback where they were in the process of assessing local homes for safety. One of the council surveyors was pointing out that they only have a statutory requirement to make sure houses are safe and they are not concerned with whether they are habitable. He stated that he is not aware of any houses requiring full demolition. This contradicts previous reports from the council and the media that whole roads of houses would need to be demolished.

He was asked when the street lighting would be back on - all the bulbs were shaken and broken he said they should be replaced and back to normal this week.

There was an angry discussion around the council’s Do it Yourself approach that’s been forced on local residents to clear up asbestos themselves. Local people were not happy at being given only very basic information and grainy black and white photos for guidance. Residents have been given some bags and being asked to clear up asbestos themselves!

A resident pointed out that the City Council Disaster plan had not been followed properly. He also described how the City Demolition firm had dumped small pieces of broken corrugated sheets of asbestos on his garden that he’d already managed to clear of asbestos himself. His brother was so concerned about this that he went to the emergency bureau to complain. The contractors boss then came to complain to him that he was annoying his workers. He also pointed out that the council’s trade union office has strict procedures for handling asbestos and these had not been followed.

The council surveyor said that the council had cleared up most of the broken tiles. Another resident shouted that they had not been cleared from her back garden! The council surveyor clearly stated it was a ‘safe type of asbestos’ particularly if the tiles weren’t broken!? Someone pointed out that most of the tiles that had fallen off roofs had landed and did not remain in one piece!

Several people recounted how difficult they had found it in the past to get the Council to remove asbestos. One person said that in the past she had a couple of broken tiles in a pile of rubbish and she had to wait weeks for the Council to send someone in a full protective body suit to remove the tiles. So how dangerous is the asbestos and what kind of safety measures should our council be using?

Residents asked if there was anyone from the Council at the meeting who knew anything about asbestos. The council’s representatives replied that there wasn’t.

Venetta Johnston took over the meeting at this point and suggested we have a general discussion on community safety. The following issues were raised.

A lack of security due to broken fences. The fencing between Queenswood Road and Sandford Road was funded under the Urban Regeneration Scheme and is not covered by insurance.

The policing levels are too high in the day and there is not enough patrolling after 9pm.

There was concern that the security on the street closures was going to be removed on Friday, people wanted the security to remain.

There is still glass, asbestos tiles, glass fibre insulation and other hazards on the streets. This is especially worrying for children so why doesn't the Council give us a skip on each road?

Residents requested an information report from the Council on all health and safety risks; dust from building materials, glass in carpets, asbestos and for it to be put on the website and printed copies made available. Venetta Johnston agreed to this.

Venetta Johnston then gave an update on Balsall Heath park, she said the Sports Camp and Monkey Business are both taking place and the play area is now safe. Sports Camp, run by the Council, starts this next week and Monkey Business, organised by local residents, is on Saturday 20th.

There was a long discussion on regeneration. Venetta Johnston talked about seeing the disaster as an ‘opportunity’ and claimed that the Council wants to work closely with residents to rebuild the area. The Sparkbrook District, which Balsall Heath falls under, has a ‘District Plan’.

Phil Woolas, a local government Minister is coming back to the area in four weeks and she would like to have a plan to present to him. She believes we have to make a bid to Central government from a multi-agency task force as residents, traders, and local organisations.

We had a discussion on regeneration. A resident made the point that we need a youth centre and general community centre. The timber structured youth centre that was in Balsall Heath park burnt down some time ago. What happened to the insurance money? It was a real loss to the community but there has never been any talk from the authorities to replace it.

Someone else explained how two decades of under-funding for Leisure and Culture has affected the area. They explained how Roshven gardens which used to be a community centre and gardens has been leased to Imran’s restaurant for a peppercorn rent but is no longer used as gardens/community centre. Now the local swimming baths are also under threat. They also warned against the Council seeing Balsall Heath Forum as the only voice of the area. They should not be seen as the representatives of the residents of Balsall Heath.

A local architect spoke of his vision of rebuilding homes as eco-friendly homes with solar panels to create a practical example of a greener way of life.

A resident spoke passionately about the damage to Ladypool School's gothic Victorian spire. He referred to it as a national treasure and said it had only recently been restored for £300,000.

There were requests for more regular road sweeping and emptying of bins to prevent
rat infestation. People also requested suggestions boxes and notice boards for residents in the portacabins.

The meeting ended with the proposal that weekly residents meetings are going to take place with the council to draw up a regeneration plan.

A tornado meeting that was intended to be organised by residents for residents took place on 9th August, 7.45pm at Moseley CDT building. It had emerged from a spontaneous street meeting between residents that took place on the monkey steps overlooking Birchwood road in Balsall Heath.

The question of why the meeting was held in Moseley and not Balsall Heath was answered by the organisers as being due to the tornado devastation. Jo, a local midwife, pointed out that the tornado had nothing to do with it, there are no public meeting spaces in Balsall Heath anyway, apart from the parks!

Before the meeting started it was pointed out that three local councillors and members of the Balsall Heath Forum had chosen to attend. Some people expressed disappointment - it was meant to be a residents-only meeting. They were allowed to stay but were asked not to contribute.

Looking back on the meeting now, having the councillors present was a mixed blessing. It was useful to be able to get information straight away and to be able to pass on concerns but it does appear to me that the meeting became more about lobbying the council via the councillors, rather than how we as residents are going to organise ourselves effectively.

The structure of the meeting was a half-hour free discussion and then the chair picked what he considered to be the salient points for action. These were re-build, security, the legal position for private tenants and regeneration. Communication also seemed to me to be a big concern and
other attendees did attempt to tackle it.

The meeting was concerned that the re-build retains the original character and history of homes and surrounding area. At the moment people with insurance are under pressure from insurance companies who want to get the job done as quickly and as cheaply as possible. It's also estimated that 60% of local people don't have insurance for either, house, contents or
both. Dick Atkinson from Balsall Heath Forum stated that we have to deal with the rebuilding of the area collectively; there are so many people uninsured we have to help everybody if the area is to be restored. There are many precedents in the local area of whole roads and avenues being
re-roofed in one go around 15 years ago under the envelope scheme eg. Woodstock Road. A local architect put forward a plan to use the opportunity to build eco-friendly housing with solar panels.

Martin Mulaney (Moseley councillor) suggested that ideally we call a meeting with Clive Dutton Head of Planning and Regeneration. But as he is on holiday he said we should see Jo Rowley and Venetta Johnston. He said the money will be coming from Central government and we need to get MP Roger Godsiff ‘on board’.

Security – the Council are planning to remove the security on Friday. People still have most of their belongings in their homes and they are still unfit to return to. It was left to the councillors to put forward these concerns to the council. People also wanted to know who the security guards worked for, why they didn’t all have ID and what the limits on their duties were. Another security concern was broken fences; it was suggested that the Community Safety Program may have money to help residents to secure homes.

Private tenants - Are private tenants still obliged to pay rent for homes that are uninhabitable? Again this was left to councillors to find out information.

Balsall Heath Park - There is money from the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund to put into the park. £7,000 has been used to clear up the glass and slate ready for the Sports Camp starting this week. If successful this will run through the rest of the summer. Monkey Business, the annual community fun-day in the park, organised by local residents will be on 20th August. It should
’be even bigger and better than usual to revive local spirit and also to show the authorities our strength of lobbying force’.

Martin Mulaney was asked about the promise from Central government to pay 80% of costs and what will that money be spent on? Martin explained that if we spend over 2 million pounds the government will cover 80% of it but that the costs can only be on statutory duties to make the area safe. A resident pointed out that the money can be spent on pulling up damaged trees but not replanting and covering broken roofs with tarpaulin but not rebuilding!

Communication - there had been lots of concerns about how to disseminate information - notes from meetings, next meetings, council information etc. Someone raised the issue that many people have still not returned to their homes so it’s no good the council relying on door to door delivery. Suggestions varied from having notice boards in the middle of each street and/or in the portacabins, to having one person per road willing to deliver a weekly newsletter. Someone said the council would probably want to have planning permission for notice boards! - I think it would be worth trying and see their response. The one person per street worked well in the anti-poll tax campaign and it was agreed we would get that sorted out.In the mean-time everyone who attended the meeting left their email contacts.

Overall a reasonably positive meeting. Though from chatting with people from the monkey steps meeting it was quite different to what they had planned. Personally I found the structure a bit odd, for example the chair stood up for the whole meeting and the meeting was very much directed through him as opposed to the less directive facilitation that I am used to in meeting