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Mr Dale’s Diary

More rubbish: best thing about wheelie bins is the wheels, great-grandmother tells council

The inside track on Birmingham City Council - Paul Dale's Diary

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Published April 24, 2013, in Mr Dale's Diary, Opinion


Just when you thought Birmingham’s wheelie bin debate couldn’t become more surreal, it has.

Recently, cabinet member James McKay claimed that families in Brandwood and Harborne were so desperate to get rid of nasty old plastic rubbish sacks that they were shocked to discover that their properties were unsuitable for wheelie bins.

Some people, who had been ‘red carded’ by the council’s fearsome health and safety police, were even appealing against the decision in the hope that they might after all be allowed to take part in Birmingham’s refuse revolution, Cllr McKay claimed.

Imagine the awful scene as Labour supporters in Harborne sit around the kitchen table for supper.

“We just can’t wait to get our wheelie bins delivered next month. When do you get yours?”

Cue shuffling of feet and contemplating of navels.

“We’ve been refused. Just cannot believe it. We’ll appeal, of course.”

It’s wise to steer away from wheelie bin conversation over supper, I always feel.

And as if that wasn’t enough, the council’s ever inventive media officers have issued a press release entitled: “Why we love our wheelie bins.”

The missive highlights the “positive experiences” of people using bins.

A sick council, Michael Gove meets Steptoe and Son

The inside track on Birmingham City Council - Paul Dale's Diary

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Published March 5, 2013, in Mr Dale's Diary, Opinion


medicineThis week’s Birmingham City Council cabinet could really have been any meeting at any time in the past 15 years, regardless of which political party or parties are in control.

Same old depressing problems: same old failure to solve same old problems.

The issues that just won’t go away include ludicrously high staff sickness levels, poor performance in parts of children’s and adult social services, under-performing schools, failure to use IT systems effectively, high unemployment, poor public transport and gridlocked city centre roads at the first sign of an accident.

These are matters that have concerned the council certainly since 2000, and probably for longer than that. It has been clear for a long time that the city centre renaissance of 2002-2008 was to a large extent illusory, hiding Birmingham’s desperate social and economic problems behind a glitzy façade of high-rise offices, expensive restaurants and shopping malls.

Even today, stride out two or three miles from the Bullring in any direction and you are likely to find

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The bid to topple Sir Albert is gathering pace

The inside track on Birmingham City Council - Paul Dale's Diary

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Published February 21, 2013, in Mr Dale's Diary, Opinion


Sir Albert Bore

Sir Albert Bore

It is inevitable that Sir Albert Bore and Ian Ward will be challenged for the leadership and deputy leadership of Birmingham City Council at the annual Labour group meeting in May.

Quinton councillor John Clancy has indicated to colleagues that he will definitely pitch himself against Sir Albert, assuming that a more heavyweight contender cannot be found from the cabinet, or possibly a senior elder-statesman figure in the shape of a scrutiny committee chair.

And it has become clear in recent weeks that Clancy is planning a double-coup by also lining up a candidate to take on Ian Ward, the affable and hard-working deputy council leader.

One can never be certain in politics, of course, but my estimation for what it is worth is that Clancy and his supporters among the 78-strong Labour group have zero chance of toppling Sir Albert and Cllr Ward. In fact, Clancy has as much chance of becoming the next Pope as the leader of Europe’s largest local authority.

We’ve been here before. Sir Albert certainly has. Will this be

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We may get a black Pope: will we ever get a black Tory councillor?

The inside track on Birmingham City Council - Paul Dale's Diary

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Published February 12, 2013, in Mr Dale's Diary


councilhouseIt is probably a coincidence that Mike Whitby announced his intention to remain leader of the dwindling band of Birmingham Tory councillors just a few hours after the Pope said he would be abdicating.

Such are the affairs of great men, though, that the timing of these proclamations invariably raises more questions than answers.

Whitby, rattled by criticism of his extremely low profile since losing the council leadership last May, says he is renewed and eager to carry the fight to Labour. A perfect opportunity to do so will be at the annual budget meeting later this month where, for the first time in eight years the Conservative group will put forward its own spending proposals.

Any prospect of a joint Tory-Lib Dem budget in the spirit of the two parties’ coalition was dismissed somewhat abruptly by Liberal Democrat leader Paul Tilsley: “It will be my intention to present a

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Mr Dale’s Diary: Amey sheds light on Birmingham’s heritage

The inside track on Birmingham City Council - Paul Dale's Diary

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Published January 15, 2013, in Mr Dale's Diary


lampYou might have thought, what with the end of local government as we know it (copyright A. Bore), that city councillors in Birmingham would be ecstatic at the thought of getting new, energy-saving, street lights on their patch.

But this is not necessarily the case for some who retain an inbuilt suspicion of the £2.5 billion contract granted to construction giants Amey to improve and manage the city’s highway’s network.

The fact that thousands of street lights in Birmingham will be replaced, making the council the envy of many other local authorities who tried but failed to conclude PFI deals before George Osborne’s financial Armageddon struck home, cuts no ice with conservation-minded councillors.

They worry that ‘unsuitable’, modern, lighting columns are being placed in Birmingham’s conservation areas, completely out of keeping with Victorian and Georgian architecture.

The issue was raised at a scrutiny committee where executives from Amey were on hand to gently explain that

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