Community News

A major project to repair and improve a bridge in Great Barr will begin next week. The £3.37million project on Scott Bridge, Newton Road, will begin from 17 May and will last 43 weeks.

This major scheme will involve lane closures on the dual carriageway near Monksfield Avenue and traffic management throughout the project, which should be completed in March 2022. The work is being funded by £2.999m from the Department for Transport Bridges Challenge Fund and £371,000 from Sandwell Council.

The scheme will involve repairs to the bridge deck and structure, waterproofing, new road surfacing and white lines, and the bridge parapets will also be upgraded. During the work there will be lane closures and crossover points installed in the central reservation to allow one side of the bridge to be closed at a time. A compound for workers will also be created.

The need for the work was identified during routine bridge inspections. The bridge, which takes the Newton Road over the Tame Valley Canal, last underwent major repairs around 30 years ago. Traffic management, including signs, lane closures and a contraflow system will be installed throughout the project to guide vehicles safely through the roadworks.

Some delays and disruption will be inevitable during the work. Advance warning signs and notifications will be placed along key routes to reduce the volume of traffic and keep disruption to a minimum. The project is being carried out by R&C Williams Ltd. Letters detailing the works have been sent to local residents.

The temporary traffic measures are scheduled to start mid-May and continue with the lane crossovers mid-August where they will remain for 20 weeks until completion of the works in March 2022. The work will involve the following lane closures and contraflows. Access to properties along the route will be maintained at all times.

·         Road closure in both directions while work is done on the central reservation to allow traffic to crossover lanes – for approximately four weeks from start of work in mid-May

·         Single lane closure in the direction of Scott Arms (eastbound) – for approximately 10 weeks from mid-June

·         Contraflow with westbound carriageway closed – for approximately 10 weeks from mid-August

·         Contraflow with eastbound carriageway closed – for approximately 10 weeks from late-October

·         Single lane closure in the direction of Scott Arms (eastbound) – for approximately 6 weeks from January 2022

·         Lane closures in both directions to reinstate central reservation – for approximately 3 weeks from early-March 2022 to completion of project in late-March 2022.

Sandwell Council’s Deputy Leader Councillor Maria Crompton said: “This is a major piece of work to make vital repairs to the bridge and we apologise for any inconvenience it may cause to residents and drivers.”

Sandwell Council’s cabinet member for sustainable transport Councillor Jackie Taylor said: “We’ll be working closely with the contractor to monitor the work and keep any disruption to an absolute minimum.

“I am delighted that this major work is finally taking place our bridges need to be safe as well as our roads. I understand that there will be some frustration during this time.

“I would encourage you all to give yourselves extra time for travelling of consider different modes of transport for your journey.”  

There have been many outcries of social media platforms needing to do more to stop the anonymous racist abuse that are targeted at our (UK) black football players (current and former).

The two most common outcries are:

1. platforms should do more to block these comments at source and not place the onus on the recipients to report and block the racist individuals
2. platforms should not allow someone to create an account anonymously and then post their racist comments, which is a crime under the “Crime and Disorder Act with making racially aggravated comments”, without the ability to identify the individuals

Despite the responses from the platforms such as Facebook (which owns Instagram), and Twitter stating that “racist behaviour, abuse and harassment have absolutely no place on our service”¹, the daily (if not hourly) abuse continues and to the wider public - not enough is being done and certainly not fast enough.

Let's start understanding the social media stance and as my professional career is in the IT sector, I will also shed some light from a technological perspective. I will cover the two common outcries, in addition the following points:

1. what drives the success of social media platforms
2. can racist comments be blocked
3. benefits of anonymous accounts
4. effect of boycotting the platforms
5. the founders of these platforms

And then finally, my conclusion to “why social media deem it acceptable to allow racial abuse to black footballers”.

1.      these social media platforms are hugely successful

• the social media platforms’ business (economic) model is to have hundreds of millions of users, spending as much time as possible (24-7) on their platforms and (by any means necessary) the more addicted, narcissistic, outrage and polarised we are – the more we are worth to these platforms. They can then target and customise the millions of adverts to their millions of users and ultimately - make billions of dollars.

2.      ability to block racist comments

• regardless of what these platforms will lead us to believe, these comments can be blocked at source and filtered out before they become public.
• To state the obvious...racist comments are racist because of the wording and the context of those words. It is very, very easy to detect these key words (even if there are 10,000s of these racist words) and also the context, using algorithms and machine learning technique (similarly to Grammarly²). Ironically, these very same platforms are quick to boast how intelligent their systems are to perform far more complex processes such as holding conversation (chatbots), yet blocking all these racist comments are beyond them.
• the best that the platforms are offering, are tools for the user (the black players) to "moderate their replies". This places the onus on the user to block the racist comments and the perpetrators. This of course mean that you (the black players) have to at least read the racist comment and digest the mental pain, before you decide to block/report the perpetrator. Then once you block the perpetrator, he/she simply replaces the blocked (or suspended / deactivated) account and send their next racist comment.

3.      why allow anonymous accounts?

• while the anonymity emboldens the perpetrators to send their racist comments with impunity, the vast majority are traceability through collaboration with internet providers, telecom (mobile operators) providers and the police. Every internet user has a unique address, call an IP address³ and just like your house address has a door number, street name, town, postcode and country - put them together and they form a unique address so that letters addressed to you, from anywhere in the world, arrives at your doorstep.
• the response from the platform representatives is the need to provide anonymity for users in oppressive states and regimes, victims of crimes, whistle-blowers etc – giving them a voice without repercussion from their oppressors, companies etc (legitimate protests are usually organised using social media platforms) and all right-minded individuals would support this argument.
• more to the point, disallowing anonymous accounts would significantly reduce the user base of the platforms and ultimately reduce their profitability and possible their viability.
• a new approach is needed on how we communicate online and, remove the toxicity and protection of anonymous account which these racist perpetrators rely on (will the forthcoming UK Online Harms Bill⁴ remove anonymity).

4.      what effect will boycotting have on these platforms?

• from time to time, many (major) advertisers (Coca-Cola) and players (Thierry Henry) have boycotted these platforms.
• government representatives are suggesting they will face “severe sanctions” through fines.
• platforms want absolution of any responsibility for the posted comments and are resisting all attempts to be classified as publishers and regulated by Ofcom⁵ (similarly to newspapers and television broadcasters).
• boycotting will not stop or reduce the abuse but it does keep promoting these platforms at the top of the news agenda.

5.      the platforms are founded and run by white men

• while I am not accusing these founders, in and of themselves, being racists or uncaring, they however, cannot begin to imagine or understand the damaging and long-lasting distress of racial abuse, racial discrimination or racial violence as they (literally) have no “skin in the game” (men will never experience labour pains…right?)
• putting forward defensive arguments such as “freedom of speech / expression” and “censorship” are predictable – although it simply allows perpetrators to racial abuse black people with impunity. Black people, for centuries have uniquely (and deliberately) been subjected to racial abuse, racial discrimination and racial violence. However, throughout those centuries, black people have not uniquely evolved to grow extra (thicker) layers of skin to protect and harden their feelings, sensitivity and mental well-being. Race-ism is the worst of all the -isms, because, black people cannot wake-up next day and change their skin colour like a “chameleon”, but instead, they have to overcome the daily trauma of racism and not let it dictate how they live their lives.
• it would be a very different proposition and approach if the founders were black because, when racism is perpetrated against a black person, it would also (indirectly) be abusing and offending the founders, would not be tolerated and defended as “freedom of speech”– why should anyone have the freedom to make racist speech against black people with impunity?
• The founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, who is Jewish, as his surname indicates, could easily and legally change his name to, for example, Mark Williamson - masking his identity and possibly, a life-time of anti-Semitic attacks, and just “look-like” another privileged “all- white” male. On the other hand, black people do not, regardless of any adaptation of Anglicised naming, assimilation or attainment, do not have the option to change their skin colour, thus avoiding identification and a life-time of racism. Furthermore, societies around the world have been structured throughout its institutions (government, religious, education, financial, legal, media etc), to dehumanise and discriminate against black people – there is absolutely no refuge.
• watch Ian Wright (a “much-loved” black footballer) and Alan Shearer (white footballer) share an honest conversation about the impact of racist online abuse. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/football/56949360

With all that said and done, the platforms will view the racial abuse “in the grand scheme of their operation and business model” and, it is a very small (minuscule) percentage, less than a fifth of, point one of a percent (0.02%), of the football comments posted⁶.

However, while the platforms deliberate on what (further) actions to take, it is clear they have little appetite to:

1. eradicate these racist comments at source so they are not publicly
2. disallow the creation of anonymous accounts as it would threaten their profitable and viability
3. bow to pressure of boycotts from other companies and individuals.

The conclusion, from a black person’s perspective is…

Due to the “glacier crawl” and ineffective actions (so far) of the people responsibility for running these social media platforms, they seem to have deemed it acceptable that, racist abuse to black people are an acceptable trade off within their operation and business model and as I stated earlier, they have “no skin in the game” and defend it as “freedom of speech” and “censorship”, despite it being a crime in the “eyes of the law”. Of course, racist abuse is not only confine to black footballers, but to many other black members of other online groups on their platforms. With black people accounting for approximately 17% of the world’s population (1.3 billion)⁷, that is a lot of people directly and indirectly, being abused and offended and - deemed acceptable.

However, the outcries are not only from black communities, but there have also been many public statements from white community members that “racist behaviour of any form is unacceptable and cannot be allowed to continue”⁸.

We now await the UK Online Harms Bill as it is intended to set out a new regulatory framework to ensure people are safe online and establish a statutory duty of care for online companies to their users, which will be legally obliged to identify, remove and prevent anything illegal from being shared on their platforms, such as hate speech, child exploitation and suicide material. However, the proposed timeline for the legislation to be implemented is two to three years away (2023-2024)⁹.

Written By Winston Menzies

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¹ https://blog.7905d1c4e12c54933a44d19fcd5f9356-gdprlock/en_gb/topics/company/2020/no-room-for-racist-behaviour-on-twitter-.html
² https://www.grammarly.com/
³ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_address
⁴ https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/online-harms-white-paper/online-harms-white-paper
⁵ https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/what-is-ofcom
⁶ https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/30/facebook-instagram-twitter-boycotted-by-british-sport-over-abuse-.html
⁷ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_world
⁸ https://www.premierleague.com/news/2122300
⁹ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-53222665

The winners for the second round of the You Matter Communities Community Fund have been announced.

McLaughlin & Harvey, the lead contractor for Birmingham City Council at the Alexander Stadium Redevelopment, has finalised 15 community projects that will each receive a grant of up to £1,000 to support their work within local communities.

Launched last year, McLaughlin & Harvey’s You Matter Communities initiative provides support to local communities through volunteer time, small grants, and the use of excess materials from the construction process.

The initiative is focused on supporting community organisations, in particular those facing disproportionate challenges, to recover from the impact of COVID-19.

Small grants are offered through the You Matter Community Fund and provide a direct way for McLaughlin & Harvey to make a positive impact locally and provide much needed support to communities.

The latest round of successful applicants takes the overall number of organisations to benefit through the Community Fund to 32, with a total of £27,936 awarded.

Projects were selected based on their ability to meet McLaughlin & Harvey’s social value objectives and the Partners in Communities measures of the city council’s Birmingham Business Charter for Social Responsibility.

A further five organisations will receive support via the You Matter Time Bank – through which contractors offer their time to local projects and good causes. In total the number of groups to have benefitted from Time Bank support since the inception of the scheme is five.

Simbi Folarin, Director at Northfield-based GLUE Collective, which has received £1,000, said: “We are passionate about addressing the emerging social, health and economic challenges in our local communities and recognise the power and agency of play for children and connecting people to the natural environment.

“The You Matter Community Fund grant will enable us to provide nature play session for our community, supporting children to access creative and immersive processes and encouraging experimentation of play.”

Valerie Edkins, Treasurer at the Friends of Perry Park, which is set to receive up to four days of volunteer support to clear brambles and vegetation, said: “The You Matter TimeBank support from McLaughlin & Harvey will allow us to provide a rich selection of wildflowers to the Park to encourage insects, birds and more biodiversity.”

Martin Keys, Operations Director, McLaughlin & Harvey for Alexander Stadium, added: “We are delighted that so many local community projects have engaged with You Matter Communities and so impressed by the outcomes that have been achieved in the first round.

“We are looking forward to supporting the second round projects in delivery and to learning about the positive impacts they make for local communities.” 

Cllr Ian Ward, Leader of Birmingham City Council, said: “The redevelopment of the Alexander Stadium is about much more than the delivery of a world-class sporting and community facility.

“Through the council’s spending power on this project, we have secured in McLaughlin & Harvey a construction partner that fully understands the importance of being a good neighbour in the community – not just in Perry Barr, but Birmingham as a whole.

“The You Matter Communities scheme is helping make a positive difference to a wide range of organisations in the city and securing a deeper legacy for the new stadium than just the facilities or events that it stages in future.”

Applications for the third round of the You Matter Community Fund, will be welcome from July 2021. For more details of the scheme please visit the Birmingham City Council website at: www.birmingham.gov.uk/perry-barr-regen.

Unions representing musicians, theatre workers and actors, in Birmingham have, in an open letter to Ian Ward, leader of Birmingham City Council, pressed for a one-year delay in the introduction of Birmingham’s Clean Air Zone and for a support scheme for the cultural sector.

The Covid-19 pandemic has decimated the industry with workers particularly hard hit. Falling between the cracks in government support scheme, nearly half (46%) of freelance cultural workers in the region have missed out. The planned introduction of the clean air zone in June is another threat to already reduced incomes. 

The unions are urging the Council to delay the implementation of the clean air zone by at least a year to provide breathing space for the sector to recover. In addition, the cultural unions are also asking for Birmingham City Council to establish a separate fund to support Birmingham’s cultural workers, especially those from low incomes and disadvantaged backgrounds, to ensure that all cultural workers can continue to gain meaningful employment in the city.

Musicians’ Union Regional Organiser and TUC Midlands Cultural Chairperson Stephen Brown said: “We support measures to reduce climate change and the aims of the clean air zone are laudable. However, the way this is being introduced is ham-fisted. We have consistently raised our concerns about how the practicalities of the scheme will have a negative impact on workers in our sector, but we haven’t been properly listened to.

“The majority of cultural workers are low paid. They only work in the city for a few hours at a time and have to travel by car or van due to equipment requirements. A recent MU survey* revealed that 70% will face being charged, and the nature of their work means that with post-midnight finishes, they’ll get charged twice. It isn’t difficult therefore to see how badly hit they will be.

“Unfortunately, after the pandemic where cultural workers have been too often overlooked this is yet another kick in the teeth. We really hope the Council, even at this late stage, will sit down with us and to devise a scheme that will truly work for all and help us to get on delivering the recovery we are all so desperate to see.”

Severn Trent has supported over 400 non-profit organisations across the Midlands with more than £3.5m funding for the community over the last 12 months. To celebrate awarding its first grant in April 2020, it has today released its first Annual Community Fund Review that showcases the communities supported over the year.

More than £1.5m has been awarded through the Severn Trent Community Fund alone to projects boosting wellbeing, as well an additional £1m donated through its Emergency Coronavirus Fund to help communities deal with the impact of the pandemic. Severn Trent also donated a further £1m to charitable causes across the region last summer too, after it challenged customers to save water to raise money for charity.

Liv Garfield, Severn Trent Chief Executive said: “Being there for our customers and communities this year has been important as ever. That’s why I’m delighted to be able to share our first Community Fund review to showcase the fantastic projects, schemes and charities that do incredible things in our communities that we’ve been so proud to support.

“Our communities really are at the heart of what we do, and we created the Community Fund so we can help make a genuine difference to them. There’s so many absolutely amazing organisations that have ideas for projects that benefit our communities, and those living in them that just needed some extra support, and that’s where we’ve been able to help.”

The review of year showcases the 93 projects, chosen by its customers, that have been supported through the core Community Fund. The projects are set to boost the wellbeing of more than 580,000 beneficiaries, create or enhance over 90 community spaces, and improve or create better access to more than 168 acres of environment.

Two of the biggest projects awarded this year through the fund were to the National Space Centre in Leicester to create a brand new exhibition space benefiting more than 250,000 Severn Trent customers, and to Historic Coventry Trust for their project to transform a large section of Coventry’s derelict former railway ‘Loop Line’ into a walking and cycling route for the community.

Chas Bishop, Chief Executive at the National Space Centre who received £249,860 said: “These have been really difficult times for so many people, but working with the Severn Trent team on such an exciting project gives us plenty to look forward to when we can reopen the doors.  It is great to work with a partner who feels as passionately about the science behind their work as we do, as well as understanding the positive difference their funding can make to support the people living and working within their communities.”

Graham Tait, assistant director at the Historic Coventry Trust who received £198,460, said: “We are really grateful for Severn Trent’s support which allows us to open up a major part of the former railway for public access. It really is a magical place, a stretch of countryside woodland right in the heart of the city.”

The new Annual Review revealed today also shares details of the additional 300+ local causes that Severn Trent have supported with their £1m Emergency Fund, which launched last April to help communities deal with the impact of COVID-19 and aid their recovery.

Over the last year, the Community Fund and £1m Emergency Coronavirus Fund combined has awarded:

·          Central Midlands: £279,126 to 77 organisations;

·          Derbyshire: £248,048 to 55 organisations;

·          Gloucester: £166,129 to 26 organisations;

·          Leicestershire: £559,430 to 48 organisations;

·          Nottinghamshire: £276,766 to 57 organisations;

·          Shropshire: £132,455 to 34 organisations;

·          Staffordshire: £262,961 to 50 organisations;

·          Warwickshire: £423,823 to 51 organisations;

·          Worcestershire: £116,230 to 29 organisations.

Through the £1m water saving charity challenge, the company donated a further £1m to five region-wide causes supporting the most vulnerable of communities – Barnardo’s, Macmillan, Crisis and local branches at Age UK and Mind – to say thanks to their customers for saving water during the hot weather last summer.

Liv added: “We know that especially over the last year, our communities have really needed a helping hand. Whether it’s been through our Community Fund, or coronavirus support, we really are proud to have made a difference. We’re looking forward to providing even more support in our second year to incredible projects that will improve people’s lives, benefit our environments and help people reconnect with nature.”

The Severn Trent Community Fund is overseen by an independent Panel, made up of Severn Trent customers, who review applications and who decide where the money goes. From 2020 it is committed to awarding more than £10m over 5 years to support local charity and community groups to help support projects and ideas that improve wellbeing across three key themes – People, Place and Environment.

Simon Foster begins in his new role as the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, after he succeeds David Jamieson who decided to stand down from the role. The Labour candidate won with a total of 301,406 votes, beating Conservative Jay Singh-Sohal, who achieved 259,839, into second place, after second preference votes were counted.

Following Jamieson, who has retired from the role after seven years, the new incumbent says that tackling knife crime in the West Midlands will be one of the priorities in his new role. He also said that he wants to strengthen community policing, reduce violent crime and domestic violence.

The legal aid solicitor paid tribute to his fellow candidates, following an election that was decided on second preferences, after no candidate secured 50% of the vote through first choices.

“Tackling domestic abuse against women is a priority because home should be a place of safety and security," he said. “It can have devastating and catastrophic consequences for people and families.

“Increasing the number of community police after they had fallen over the past decade is also key.” There have been cuts of over 50% to community policing in the West Midlands between 2010 and 2018 seeing numbers drop from 1,800 officers to just 700.

"It was always my core pledge throughout my campaign and that's why I pledge 450 extra officers in community policing throughout the West Midlands," he said, adding that there had also been a breach on the part of central government over the last 10 years in reducing violent crime, in particular knife crime. He also said that he would work with the West Midlands' mayor and local authorities to restore youth services.

Police & Crime Commissioners are elected to oversee the work of their local police force. The other candidates who stood were Independent Julie Hambleton, Mark Hoath from Reform UK, Liberal Democrat John Hunt and Desmond Jaddoo from the We Matter Party.

Andy Street has been re-elected as Mayor of the West Midlands. The Conservative Party candidate was declared winner of the Mayoral election following the count at the Utilita Arena Birmingham yesterday.

A former boss of John Lewis, Mr Street will continue to serve as Mayor for another three years and as chair of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and its cabinet of the seven metropolitan West Midlands council leaders.

Following the declaration, he said: "It’s an honour to be elected again. We know we have a great deal to do to recover from the pandemic, but we have laid out very clear plans around the economy, transport, housing, skills and the environment. Now we have to get on with the work ahead of us. Thank you to everyone who has put their trust in me." 

The election, on Thursday May 6, saw votes cast in Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton. A total of 626,180 people voted – a turnout of 31.23 per cent.

Mr Street secured victory over Labour candidate Liam Byrne by 314,669 votes to 267,626 after the second preference votes were counted. Having a West Midlands Mayor is a key part of the devolution deal struck between the WMCA and Government in 2016, giving the region and its elected politicians greater powers and control over how funding should be spent.

Mr Street will have responsibility for some of the biggest issues affecting the lives of around 2.8m people in the West Midlands. His powers include control over long-term budgets from central government to:

• Work with business leaders to drive the region’s economic growth and recovery from Covid-19
• Improve transport
• Increase house building and regeneration across the region
• Improve skills and jobs

As Mayor, Mr Street will also continue to lobby Government and act as an advocate and ambassador on the global stage, championing the West Midlands and the issues that matter most to local people. He will hold office for just three years instead of a four-year term after the scheduled Mayoral election in May last year was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The first preference results were:

·         Andy Street (Conservative) - 299,318 votes

·         Liam Byrne (Labour) - 244,009

·         Steve Cauldwell (Green) - 35,559

·         Jenny Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat) – 21,836

·         Pete Durnell (Reform UK) – 13,568

Following the counting of second preferences the  totals were:

·         Andy Street (Conservative) - 314,669

·         Liam Byrne (Labour) - 267,626

Vodafone today announced it is working with the social change charity Good Things Foundation to connect digitally excluded families in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the UK. Vodafone has provided unlimited data SIMs and dongles to connect over 2,500 people, including almost 200 families and adults with disabilities in the West Midlands, enabling them to access support services, online education and employment opportunities. The Good Things Foundation ‘Connecting Families’ programme^[1] crucially includes specialist one-on-one support to ensure that, in addition to devices and connectivity, every family learns essential digital skills so they can benefit fully from the tech they’ve been given. 

Vodafone’s has also provided Mi-Fi devices and unlimited data SIMs to support adults with learning disabilities and their carers via Good Things Foundation and Mencap, the UK’s leading learning disability charity.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates that 1.9 million households^[2] in the UK don’t have reliable access to fixed line internet, and as many as 11.7 million people lack the basic digital skills needed to support everyday tasks such as communicating, accessing healthcare and being safe and confident online. ONS data also points to the disproportionately negative impact Covid-19 has had on disabled people, especially those with learning disabilities, who are more likely to face digital exclusion.

Since March 2020, Good Things Foundation has distributed devices and connectivity to more than 13,000 families across the UK. It works with local community partners to ensure the programme reaches families most in need and where the tech will have an impact quickly. Anecdotal evidence from its work throughout the pandemic suggests many families have struggled to support children's learning at home because one or both parents lack technology knowledge; and that accessing essential support services, healthcare and benefit systems has been an enormous challenge.

Helen Lamprell, General Counsel and External Affairs Director of Vodafone UK, said: “Our purpose as a business has been supercharged during the pandemic, in particular our role in providing connectivity and support to vulnerable people in society who’ve been disproportionally impacted. Programmes such as schools.connected and The Great British Tech Appeal have played a big role and helped us reach more than 350,000 children and young people. I hope that, via Good Things Foundation and Mencap, we can support even more people at the time they need it most.”

Helen Milner OBE, CEO, Good Things Foundation said: “We're delighted to be working with Vodafone on the Connecting Families programme. The devices, SIMs and dongles have had a hugely positive impact for many families in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the UK. Digital connectivity and skills are no longer a nice-to-have, but a need-to-have. People who can’t afford a device or data have struggled to access education, financial and job support, and health appointments. We know that digital access has been a lifeline to disadvantaged families and the need to work together to continue to work towards fixing the Digital Divide has never been greater.”

Phil Clark, Digital Partnerships Programme Manager at the learning disability charity Mencap, said: “The world we live in is becoming increasingly digital and, as we have seen during the crisis, it’s more important than ever to be digitally connected. People with a learning disability often struggle to access and use digital tools and it is vital that they are not left behind, particularly during the pandemic when so many have suffered.

“With the right support, people with a learning disability can use technology to be independent, stay connected and feel more included in their local community. We are incredibly grateful to be working with Vodafone and the Good Things Foundation to help connect more people with a learning disability across the UK - especially during such challenging times.”

Vodafone announced in March that it had donated 10,000 dongle devices to Business2Schools, which is distributing them to schools across the UK. It also made a £200,000 donation to the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s ‘Learn at Home’ campaign to enable it to distribute 500 computer kits to disadvantaged young people and provide specialist training to youth workers so they can teach digital and coding skills.

These donations follow Vodafone’s schools.connected programme, which gave 350,000 SIM cards to 9,000 schools and colleges across the UK; and its Great British Tech Appeal which calls on the public and businesses to donate unwanted devices.  Working with Barnardo’s, SafeLives and British Red Cross, Vodafone then sends these devices to those most in need, with six months’ free connectivity. To date, the programme has helped over 5,000 vulnerable people.

With one month to go until the launch of Birmingham’s Clean Air Zone, Birmingham City Council has published the Birmingham Clean Air Zone Charging Order 2021.

The order sets out the full details of how the Clean Air Zone will operate. The order (except Article 7) came into force on 26 April 2021. Article 7 (Imposition of charges) will come into force on 1 June 2021.

This means that from 1 June 2021 onwards vehicles of specified classes that do not meet the emissions standards set out in the order will, subject to specified exemptions, be required to pay the charge stated in the order to drive in the Birmingham Clean Air Zone. Owners of high polluting vehicles will be charged to drive within the A4540 Middleway (but not the Middleway itself).

The order sets out the temporary and permanent exemptions available, how the council will approach any enforcement associated with non-payment of the Clean Air Zone daily fee and how it intends to use any income generated from the zone.

Temporary exemption permits are available for:

·         people who live in the Clean Air Zone

·         businesses who store vehicles overnight within the Clean Air Zone.

·         people who live outside of the Clean Air Zone but who:

• work more than 18 hours a week at premises within the Clean Air Zone
• earned not more than £30,000 in the tax year ending 5 April 2019
• are the registered owner/ keeper of a non-compliant vehicles

A voucher scheme, which will enable visitors to Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Attwood Green Medical Centre and Badger Medical Centre to cancel any charges online. Following conversations with the NHS, this scheme has also been extended to include Millennium Point as a mass vaccination centre.

Stephen Arnold, Head of Clean Air Zone, said: “With less than four weeks to go until the launch of the Clean Air Zone on 1 June 2021, the publication of the Charging Order represents another significant milestone on our journey to cleaner air. As we move even closer to the zone’s implementation, we are urging people who have not already done so to check if they will be charged and if eligible, apply for a temporary exemption permit or financial support.

“If you are subject to the charges, now is the time to consider your options to either pay the charge or explore alternative options to travelling by private car.”

Those who are eligible for a temporary exemption permit are being advised to apply with all supporting evidence by no later than 10 May 2021 to be guaranteed their exemption in time for the 1 June 2021 launch. Applications submitted after that date will still be processed but there is no guarantee they will be approved in time for the Clean Air Zone and therefore charges will apply.

Is your local area sitting on a gold mine? Rubbish collection company Divert.co.uk says we all are - and that recycling our overlooked ‘beige gold’ could fund transformative community projects.

As a result of the seasonal demand for cardboard - for delivery boxes, birthday cards, and more - combining with an explosive growth in online shopping sparked by global lockdowns, cardboard packaging manufacturers are finding themselves struggling to get hold of the materials needed to make more boxes, tubes and packing.

This material comes largely from the recycling process: we recycle almost 80% of the cardboard we use in the UK, so much of our packaging finds its way back into the manufacturing process for a new lease of life. But this ‘beige gold’ is now trapped in the homes and recycling bins of the Great British public, rather than the faster-moving commercial recycling processes used by large retailers, restaurant chains and the like.

The result? The price for waste cardboard has now reached £80-100 a tonne - and Divert.co.uk has devised a scheme to get that money into local communities while getting the cardboard log-jam plaguing manufacturers moving.

A spokesperson for Divert.co.uk, Mark Hall, said: “It’s clear that the combined effects of an enormous boom in online shopping and Christmas, plus personnel issues as a result of Covid-19, have had a knock-on effect on the cardboard waste life cycle in the UK, but all hope is not lost.

“We propose placing cardboard waste bins in easily-accessible locations across communities and encouraging residents to bring their ‘beige gold’ along: this can then be sold at the currently high rates per tonne, raising much-needed funding for local communities and fostering a sense of community well-being that is so crucial during these difficult times.

“It’ll open up the conversation about recycling, provide funding for community projects, and can be scaled up as necessary - we could have a Community Cardboard bin at the end of every street!” Between 2011 and 2016, English local authorities cut spending by 27% (Joseph Rowntree Foundation, The cost of the cuts report) - leaving scant resources for frontline services, let alone community projects seen as ‘non-essential’.

To explore how communities would use funds raised, Divert.co.uk ran a poll to reach real communities and hear their ideas. The results were telling - and heartwarming.

Over a quarter (28%) of the respondents said they would allocate the money to creating or renovating playgrounds for local children, while a green-fingered 26% opted for a community garden or shared allotment project. In a more sobering look at the needs of many local communities, a fifth (20%) said their first choice would be to fund local food banks. Happily, local sports teams, community arts projects and other such initiatives also featured highly, suggesting that these projects are sorely underfunded at present.

What community initiative would you fund with money raised from a Cardboard for Communities drive?

New playground for local children - 28%

Community garden/allotment - 26%

Fund local food banks -20 %

Support youth sports teams - 13%

Community arts projects - 9%

Other - 4%

Divert.co.uk’s spokesperson continued: “We’re really excited about how much of an impact this initiative could have: everyone involved would benefit, from the communities collecting their waste and receiving much-needed funds, to waste processing centres which desperately need more cardboard to speed up their recycling process.

“Nowadays, the general public is well aware of how important recycling is to the environment: this is a natural progression of that, encouraging them to see the direct benefit of recycling right in their local area.

“We’ve seen and heard some incredible ideas for the funds raised by this initiative, from planting trees along high-pollution local roads to improve the air quality to funding food banks in more deprived areas. The beauty of this scheme is that each area can decide what’s important to them and then reap the benefits.”

Since 2017 when Andy Street CBE was elected Mayor of the West Midlands, the face of the region has changed almost to the point of being almost unrecognisable from its former self, proudly boasting the fastest growing economy anywhere outside of London.

 From redevelopments across the West Midlands both towards local infrastructure and public transport, to Commonwealth Games related new builds and redevelopments, alongside the completion of projects like the facelift at Symphony Hall, the region has flourished, despite the last few years of uncertainty and downturn during the pandemic.

These redevelopments would not have been possible without the local, national and international investment in the region that Andy Street has been able to secure, including more than £3bn of Government investment to support the local economy with no Mayoral precept added to council tax bills. The level of transport investment this year was seven times higher than in the year before Mr Street became Mayor.

Before the Pandemic struck, the West Midlands enjoyed record-breaking housebuilding, with over 48,000 homes built, nearly doubling the target originally set when Andy Street became Mayor.

“Our region was doing well before COVID struck, with record-breaking numbers of jobs, record house building and the best growth anywhere outside of London,” explained Andy. “Now we need to recapture that success and surpass it.”

Andy also helped to secure both the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and Coventry City of Culture for the region, alongside creating over 97,000 new jobs in the three years before the pandemic.

“From the day I was first elected I said I wanted to be a Mayor for the whole of the West Midlands, not only reaching out to the different communities that make up the region, but also recognising that our diversity is one of our greatest strengths.

“As we begin our recovery, I think those principles of equality and inclusion are even more important now, because it’s vital that all of our communities benefit from investment we attract.”

Looking forward, post-pandemic lockdowns, Andy has already got a strong vision as to what he wants to target. “The West Midlands needs a Mayor who can deliver an ambitious but practical plan, and drive our recovery as we come out of the pandemic - I’ve pledged to create 100,000 new jobs in the first two years and continue to bring billions of pounds of investment in to create new opportunities for local people.”

Andy is also committed to reaching the region’s target of becoming net zero by 2041, using large-scale green programmes to reduce carbon emissions in transport, industry and homes, as well as maintaining the record-breaking house building rates achieved pre-pandemic, especially with his ‘brownfield first’ policy, protecting the green belt.

Polling day is May 6^th, so if you’ve not already completed your postal vote, make sure you get to your polling station on the day and ensure that your voice is heard.

Jay Singh-Sohal, who is standing to be the regions next Police and Crime Commissioner, has welcomed the announcement that 628 police officers have been recruited in the West Midlands in the first year of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s campaign to recruit 20,000 by March 2023, as part of the 8,771 additional officers that have been recruited across England and Wales.

This means the Conservative Government’s target of recruiting 6,000 by March 2021 in the first year of the programme has been dramatically exceeded, with the halfway milestone likely to be reached within the coming weeks.

The addition of these new officers brings the total number of police across the West Midlands up to 7319, meaning there are now more frontline officers on our streets to keep the public safe.

The pledge to recruit an additional 20,000 police officers was one of Boris Johnson’s key pledges during the Conservative Party leadership contest nearly two years ago.

The new figures have also confirmed that every single force across England and Wales has met or exceed their recruitment targets. 139,000 people have applied to join the police since the start of the recruitment programme. Analysis of diversity data shows that there are now 10,218 officers from a Black Asian and Minority Ethnic background – the highest number on record. 

In addition to recruiting 20,000 additional police officers, the Conservative Government is supporting the police with the powers they need to crack down on crime, including through introducing the landmark Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill – which will give the police additional powers to get knives off the streets, a £636 million funding boost for police forces this year, and a new police covenant – which will enhance support and protection for frontline police officers.

Commenting, Jay Singh-Sohal said: “Getting more police officers onto our streets is one of my top priorities, and so I am delighted that this Conservative Government has already delivered an extra 628 officers across the West Midlands.

“Every one of these officers will make an enormous difference in helping to cut crime and keep people safe – and I know that many more will follow as this Government continues to deliver on its promise to recruit 20,000 extra officers over three years.

“If elected as Police and Crime Commissioner next Thursday, I will work constructively with the Government to ensure that the West Midlands gets as many of those officers as possible - and I will cut out politics and waste to free up funding for even more.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “When I became Prime Minister, I made a commitment that we would recruit more police officers, cut crime and make your streets safer.

“In just one year, we have hired an extra 9,000 extra police officers, smashing our first-year target and putting us well on track to recruit the 20,000 new officers we promised.

“But we need Police and Crime Commissioners locally who can continue to work with the Government to recruit police officers and cut crime as we Build Back Safer from the pandemic, so I’d urge people up and down the country to vote for their local Conservative candidate on Thursday 6th May.”

Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “As Home Secretary, keeping you, your family and our country safe is my number one priority.

“One of the Government’s key promises was to put an extra 20,000 police officers on our streets, and I’m delighted that one year in we have surpassed expectations and already recruited nearly 9,000 additional police officers.

“Our police officers are the very best of us and I will continue to give them the resources and powers they need to keep us and our loved ones safe. But I need local Police and Crime Commissioners to work with me to get crime down as we emerge from the pandemic, so I’d urge everyone to vote for their local Conservative candidate on Thursday 6th May.”

Knife crime is an epidemic on our streets, according to Desmond Jaddoo, speaking at the Matthew Boulton College.

Jaddoo was one of six panellists at the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner Hustings, an event hosted by The Lunar Society, Chairing the session, New Style Radio's Charmaine Burton was central to proceedings as the panel tackled knife crime, racism in the police force and illegal substances, amongst other matters.

On the panel alongside We Matter Party's, Desmond Jaddoo were Labour candidate Simon Foster and Mark Hoath of Reform UK. Also, Jon Hunt of Liberal Democrat, Conservative's Jay Singh-Sohal and Julie Hambleton (Independent). Billed as an opportunity for the public to hear from candidates for the role of West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) before the election on Thursday, May 6, 2021, the event streamed live via zoom.

"I don't see knife crime as a phenomenon," Jaddoo said via a video presentation. "I see knife crime as an epidemic on our streets."

He said: "We're doing a lot of work on knife crime over the years. I've been involved in school education programmes, Weapons Surrender Bins - indeed, yesterday we opened our Weapons Surrender Bin in Sandwell, the only knife bin in West Bromwich. In addition to that, over the past three weeks, we've collected in excess of one hundred and fifty knives off our streets. "We also place Bleed Control Kits out.

“We've place out over a hundred and twenty Bleed Control Kits now, and that is increasing. "Developing awareness and having, an --- what we call --- 'In Your Face Campaign,' in layman's terms, is what we need to be doing. We need to energise communities. We need to have a zero-tolerance approach to knife crime, but what does that zero-tolerance approach look like?"

He said: "We don't need any more reports. We don't need any more seminars. What we require now is affirmative action, to work with young people particularly, to educate young people about the ills of knife crime, and also as well to get to the root causes." The votes counted in Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Dudley, Sandwell, Coventry, Solihull, and Walsall will decide the next PCC.

People who are indulging in retail therapy or heading off to a beer garden this Bank Holiday Weekend are being urged to stay safe.

With more retailers now open following the relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions, people are reminded that face coverings are mandatory in shops, supermarkets, shopping centres and indoor markets, premises providing personal care and beauty treatments such as hairdressers, and public transport, unless they are exempt for any reason. For full details of when and where face coverings should be worn, and exemptions, please visit https://bit.ly/34xSC7t.

A face visor or shield may be worn in addition to a face covering, but not instead. This is because face visors or shields do not adequately cover the nose and mouth, and do not filter airborne particles as face coverings do. Meanwhile, pubs and restaurants able to serve food and drink outside and customers should follow the rule of six or two households when meeting up with people they don't live with, and maintain social distancing of two metres from anyone who is not in their household or support bubble.

Face coverings should also be worn if people need to go into the pub or restaurant, for instance to order food and drink, to pay or to go to the toilet.

John Denley, Wolverhampton's Director of Public Health, said: "Businesses in Wolverhampton are working really hard to ensure shops, pubs and restaurants are safe and welcoming places for people to visit. The vast majority of customers are responding tremendously to the various measures which have been put in place, wearing face coverings, practicing social distancing and following one-way systems where required.

"It’s incredibly important that everybody continues to play their part in stopping the spread of the virus so, if you are off to the shops, remember to take not only your bags and your money, but also a face covering too. Respect your fellow shoppers and shop staff by wearing your face covering and keeping a safe distance from one another.

“And if you are off to the pub, please remember that you must maintain social distancing from people who are not in your household or support bubble. Wherever you are heading, take a bottle of hand gel with you or use hand sanitisers or handwashing facilities where available, and try to pay using contactless where you can as this reduces the possibility of transmitting the virus by handling coins or notes.

“If you are going to meet with extended family or friends, the best protection you can give them is by getting a rapid Covid-19 test first so you can be reassured you don't pose a risk to others. And please remember that you must continue to follow these guidelines even if you have had one or both your Covid-19 jabs.”

Symptoms of Covid-19 include a fever, a new, continuous cough and loss or change to a person’s sense of taste and smell. To book a test, visit www.gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test or call 119.