New hoax and fluid piece in Moseley, nice on Twitpic via @kippjones
Meteor Ford planning application approved by Chairs casting vote The planning application for the former Meteor Ford site at the corner of Oxford Road and St Marys Row was voted through today by the Chair’s casting vote, after the Committee vote 7 for, 7 against. The planning application was previously considered by the Committee on 10th February where the Committee voted 7-6 in favour of ‘deferring the decision minded to refuse’. In plain English this was informing the Planning Officers to come back with another report providing legal reasons to refuse the planning application. The planning officers did come back today with a report re-iterating why the Committee should approve the application. The voting went: Against the application: 4 Lib Dem and 3 Labour For the application: 1 Labour and 6 Conservative 1 Labour Councillor was absent This left the voting 7:7, which allowed the Chair to make the final casting vote. He voted for the application.
(Source: martinmullaney.blogspot.com)
A controversial Tesco development in a Birmingham suburb has been turned down. More than 1,700 residents and many businesses signed a petition opposing the scheme on the corner of Oxford Road and St Mary’s Row in Moseley. Councillors at a Birmingham City Council planning meeting rejected the proposals despite being told by planning officers to approve the application. They said a supermarket would take trade from nearby independent shops and cause more traffic congestion, due to lack of parking facilities. Only one letter of support was ever received from a resident who said they were happy that the proposal would bring a derelict site back into use, according to papers.
Football is getting better and better at The Prince (a bit like the Villa’s season) and Blues fans will be pleased to here we intend to recreate the atmosphere of the World Cup for their once in a lifetime trip to Wembley at the end of the month. Meanwhile we will be showing every Villa and Blues Premiership game, including the 3pm Saturday games (when the games clash, we show the away game). We will also show as many Baggies and Wolves matches as possible. We wish we could show more … cricket for example and the football that’s exclusive to Sky. Over the last few years Sky has had a monopoly on many televised sports, forcing pubs to pay massive amounts to bring customers key sporting events. The Prince, like many other pubs can’t afford Sky’s fees (over £1600 per month for the Prince) and we screen sports using another EU system ( a decoder card sold in another member state of the EU). This makes it affordable. Sky has been trying to stop this for years and has taken many pubs to court. Today, a test case that spent 4 years making its way to the European Court came out with a result that backs the pubs. According to the judge, Sky and the Premier League have been riding roughshod over the priciples of the common market by selling broadcast rights to specific territories within the EU. Pubs 1: Sky 0.
“ Network Rail has published the West Midlands & Chilterns Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS) Draft document which is presently been consulted on and will influence the timetable to when the Moseley and Kings Heath railway stations will re-open. Details of the document can be seen below. According to the document, Network Rail wants to push the re-opening of these stations back to the year period 2019 to 2024. Prior to the publication of document we had been anticipating their re-opening occurring in during the years 2015 to 2019. Both Centro and Birmingham City Council are in the process of responding to this document asking for this project to be included in the year period 2015 to 2019. Emily, Ernie and myself will be formally responding this week as well – again requesting for the project to be included in the year period 2015 to 2019. In the meantime, both Centro and Birmingham City Council have designed the pair of chords required at Bordesley that would link railway services into Moor Street station from Moseley and Kings Heath, and from Castle Vale. The cost of the two chords is calculated to be £150million. Linking any future service into Moor Street station from Moseley and Kings Heath is crucial. If these chords are not built, then any service from Moseley and Kings Heath would have to go into New Street station, which is cannot accept any more passenger services. The RUS also mentions the creation of an alternative freight line through the West Midlands, via Worcester, Round Oak and Walsall – see page 147 of the report. The creation of this alternative freight route is important to any future passenger service at Moseley and Kings Heath railway stations. It will allow freight traffic to be taken off the Camp Hill railway line and allow a 15 minute passenger service, instead of a 20minute service. The cost of the alternative freight route is estimated to be £98million. The West Midlands & Chilterns Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS) Draft for Consultation can be seen at http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browseDirectory.aspx?dir=\RUS%20Documents\Route%20Utilisation%20Strategies\West%20Midlands%20and%20Chilterns&pageid=4449&root=\RUS%20Documents\Route%20Utilisation%20Strategies and then click on “West Midlands and Chilterns RUS Draft for Consultation” Consultation ends on 4 February 2011. Consultation responses can be submitted either electronically or by post to the addresses below: westmidlandsandchilternsrus@networkrail.co.uk West Midlands and Chilterns RUS Consultation Response
RUS Programme Manager
Network Rail
Floor 4, Kings Place
90 York Way
London
N1 9AG The document is very detailed, but the parts that make reference to the re-opening of a passenger service on the Camp Hill line (the railway line through Moseley and Kings Heath is called the Camp Hill line) can be seen at the following pages page 8 - “The RUS recognises the work being developed by Centro to connect the Camp Hill lines with Birmingham Moor Street. This development would facilitate aspirations to introduce new stations along the route which would help to address wider transport requirements in the West Midlands.” page 147 - “support the Camp Hill Chords scheme - support potential new services on the Camp Hill and Tamworth line”. This page outlines the relaying of the creation of an alternative freight (alternative to the Camp Hill line) through Worcester to Round Oak to Walsall. This alternative freight line is crucial, along with the Camp Hill chords, to getting a regular passenger service on the Camp Hill line. page 155 - “One option being developed is to connect the Camp Hill lines with Birmingham Moor Street, with new station proposals at Hazelwell, Kings Heath and Moseley. ” Disappointingly, this proposal is now in capital period 2019 to 2024.
RUS Programme Manager
Network Rail
Floor 4, Kings Place
90 York Way
London
N1 9AG The document is very detailed, but the parts that make reference to the re-opening of a passenger service on the Camp Hill line (the railway line through Moseley and Kings Heath is called the Camp Hill line) can be seen at the following pages page 8 - “The RUS recognises the work being developed by Centro to connect the Camp Hill lines with Birmingham Moor Street. This development would facilitate aspirations to introduce new stations along the route which would help to address wider transport requirements in the West Midlands.” page 147 - “support the Camp Hill Chords scheme - support potential new services on the Camp Hill and Tamworth line”. This page outlines the relaying of the creation of an alternative freight (alternative to the Camp Hill line) through Worcester to Round Oak to Walsall. This alternative freight line is crucial, along with the Camp Hill chords, to getting a regular passenger service on the Camp Hill line. page 155 - “One option being developed is to connect the Camp Hill lines with Birmingham Moor Street, with new station proposals at Hazelwell, Kings Heath and Moseley. ” Disappointingly, this proposal is now in capital period 2019 to 2024.
First news for the New Year from the Birmingham Conservation trust is the beginning of some work on Highbury Hall. The Highbury Trust and Birmingham City Council have asked us to carry out an options appraisal. This means we’ll be working through a whole range of ideas, new and old on the best ways to make Highbury Hall, the grounds and part of Highbury park sustainable. With an options appraisal we will also be asking architects to look at the best use of the buildings and landscape experts to look at the best approach to the park and gardens.
Moseley Record & Book Fair
This (almost) monthly fair is taking place on Sundays at St Columba Church Hall, Chantry Road, Birmingham B13. Entry is free, and refreshments will be available.
Items for sale will include vinyl, cassettes, CDs, DVDs, videos, memorabilia, posters, badges and magazines.
Each fair will run from 1pm to 5pm.
Sundays in 2010
- 17 October
- 21 November
- 19 December
Sundays in 2011
- 30 January
- 27 March
To book a table (presumably as a vendor), contact either Jerome on 07866 237094 or Dave on 07825 447913.
“ Chairing meeting this evening on the future of creative industry and arts. 7.00 pm at the Moseley Exchange, next to Post Office. Come along!
