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THE LATEST UPDATE OF THIS WEBSITE WAS ON WENDNESDAY 19th JUNE 2013



Navigating this website

Whether you are a resident - current or prospective, a local business person, someone employed in the neighbourhood or a visitor from elsewhere, we hope you will find the website informative, useful and interesting.
John Clayton - Editor.


This HOME PAGE carries the latest news and information and key reference items including links to other relevant websites. Sections in order of appearance: Contacting us and sharing your views; latest news and information; Forthcoming events; Links to other local websites; Local weather forecasts and warnings; Local flood risk; Technical and copyright information about this website.

The LOCAL NEWS page carries an archive of previous local news stories which the site has published.

The FEATURES page is currently charting the progress of the Dogpool Lane Bridge Replacement Project in words and photographs.

The LOCAL INFO page: Sections - All about Selly Park (which includes a map of our neighbourhood); Information for newcomers; A concise history of our neighbourhood.

The LOCAL LINKS page: Over 80 telephone numbers of local organisations and businesses.

The YOUR FORUM page: Sections - Aims and Objectives; The backgound of the Forum; Area covered, membership and finance; The work of the Forum; Our public open meetings; Helping to make our neighbourhood look good; The Management Committe.

The CONTACT US page: To contact us by phone, email or post.



Contacting us and sharing your views

TO CONTACT US DIRECT: Please see the details on our CONTACT PAGE.

MESSAGE BOARD: To access our Message Board on which residents can state their views or ask questions about local issues, please click here. You will need to register if you wish to make comments.

TWITTER: Those of you who are users of Twitter can follow us and tweet to us @SPS_Forum. To sign in please click here.

FACEBOOK: To access our Facebook page, please click here.

Very occasionally we may have a problem with accessing our remote server. If this occurs we can still access our Message Board and Twitter feed, so if the site has not been updated or to check on current service status, please check there by using these links .

To register to receive email notifications of Selly Park South news from the Neighbourhood Forum please email us using the address on the CONTACT US page.


 

Latest News and Information

AN ARCHIVE OF NEWS ARTICLES CAN BE FOUND ON OUR LOCAL NEWS PAGE.

Have YOUR say on local policing - in person or online!

Updated Wednesday 19th June

Members of the local community were invited to attend the latest Selly Oak police and community tasking meeting which took place at 7pm on Wednesday 19th June. The tasking meeting enabled residents to speak with their local officers and ask questions about policing in the Selly Oak area.

The meeting was facilitated by Selly Park South Neighbourhood Forum at Christ Church Selly Park and we wish to express our grateful thanks to Christ Church for kindly hosting the meeting.

Those who could not attend the meeting in person could get involved by viewing the meeting LIVE on line. It was streamed in its entirety on Youtube.

To watch the video recording of the meeting click here
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Online viewers were able to ask questions by sending messages on TWITTER to @bhamsouthpolice using the hashtag #askwmp or on FACEBOOK www.facebook.com/brumpolice.

Representatives from West Midlands Police were accompanied by Birmingham City Council staff from the anti-social behaviour team and environmental services team.

AND PREVIOUSLY....

Ahead of the above event, on Monday evening 10th June, we teamed up with Birmingham South police to co-host a LIVE web chat.

The web chat saw the three most senior police officers in the area answering your questions.


Chief Superintendent Emma Barnett and Superintendents Jo Smallwood and Andy Shipman answered your questions about policing across the south of Birmingham. The Command Team invited members of the local community to ask questions about how officers police the area, and were also keen to hear any concerns or queries local people wisge to share.

To read the questions and answers in the web chat simply click PLAY in the grey box below.



Dogpool Lane Bridge - Work continues following re-opening

Updated Thursday 6th June

Since the opening of the new bridge to traffic on Monday 20th May work on completing the project has continued. The inner and the outer walls of the bridge have been treated with anti-graffiti coating. A road lighting column has been re-sited and the Toucan crossing for pedestrians, wheelchair users and cyclists has been switched on and is fully operational. The concrete abutments of the temporary bridge have been removed, new gabions have been put in their place to reinforce the river banks, the direct route of the cycle path has been restored and the ground between the cycle path and the river bank has been landscaped and seeded with grass. The construction compound has been largely cleared and landscaping and reseeding with grass is well advanced. A riverside picnic table has been put in place.

There is still further work to carry out. The clearing of the construction compound site and restoration of the land has to be completed. A number of the coping blocks on the bridge parapets were found to be chipped when they were being put into place and these will be replaced with new ones. The 'ahead only' road markings will be painted onto the westbound lane. A review of the cyclepath and footway markings has also been requested.

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Image above: The upstream side of the new bridge with river bank landscaping and new picnic table.

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Image above: The Toucan crossing with landscaping work going on in the background.

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Image above: A closer view of the landscaping of the construction compound site

FOR FULL DETAILS OF THE PROJECT AND A PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORD OF THE VARIOUS STAGES OF THE PROJECT AND ALL OF THE ENTRIES OF THE DOGPOOL BRIDGE SITE MANAGER'S BLOG PLEASE SEE THE FEATURES PAGE OF THIS WEBSITE.

Local Hero Award nominated by you...

Published Thursday 6th June

Birmingham City Council's 'Local Hero' Award recognises the work of council staff who provide excellent customer care. If you have benefitted from such a service we would love to hear from you.

The nominated member of staff could work in any department of the council. They may be a helpful telephone adviser, a friendly librarian, a conscientious park keeper, a favourite carer, a hospitable housing officer or a star teacher.

The nominee may have 'saved the day' by helping you out of a difficult situation, given a consistently high standard of service over a long period of time or just put a smile on your face and made your day.

We would love to hear your stories! For further details please click here.

Changes in the National Health Service

Published Thursday 30th May

People are being invited to attend a local NHS Listens event from 5pm to 8pm on Wednesday 12th June at the Clarendon Suites, 2 Stirling Road, Hagley Road, Edgbaston B16 9SB. Everyone is welcome to come along, come and hear about the changes that are happening within the NHS, ask questions and make comments. Patients, the general public, carers and community groups are welcome to attend. For full details please click here.

Crime prevention message

Published Tuesday 28th May

This is a crime prevention message from Birmingham South Police. We have recently had several thefts from garages and sheds with property stolen. Residents are reminded to secure all doors and windows to sheds and garages and to remain vigilant. We have increased patrols to identify and arrest the susupected offenders. If you see anyone acting suspiciously please call the police on 101.

Victim Support and Antisocial Behaviour

Updated Friday 24th May

New in our LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES on this Home Page is information and a link to the Victim Support organisation and the Birmingham Residents Antisocial behaviour Victim Empowerment project (BRAVE). Victim Support is the independent charity providing advice and support for victims and witnesses of crime in England and Wales. BRAVE, part of Victim Support, helps people living in Birmingham who experience persistent antisocial behaviour.

ADDITIONALLY: The needs and interests of the victims of crime and anti-social behaviour will be officially recognised in the Birmingham Victims' Charter. Ensuring all victims receive a high quality service from key agencies in a timely, adequate and meaningful manner is at the heart of the charter, was set for approval by the city council's Cabinet on May 20. Its development has been led by Victims' Champion Cllr Jess Phillips, with a series of roundtable discussions and focus group meetings held with relevant organisations and victims of crime last year along with an online survey for the wider public to offer their thoughts. As a basis, the council has taken the Ministry of Justice's national code of practice for victims of crime and enhanced it by adding value and improvement on a local level for victims in Birmingham. For further details please click here.

CP4SO - Community Partnership for Selly Oak - regeneration campaign

Updated Friday 26th April

CP4SO has been formed to protect Selly Oak from inappropriate and unsympathetic developments and promote the regeneration of Selly Oak for the benefit of the whole community. Its central interest at the moment is the controversial changes in the plans for the regeneration of the Battery Park derelict indiustrial site which lies between Bristol Road and the A38 Selly Oak New Road. Selly Park Neighbourhood Forum, along with other community groups across the whole of Selly Oak Ward, supports and has now affiliated with CP4SO. To find out more about this issue and CP4SO please visit their website by clicking here.

Domestic waste and recycling collections

Updated Tuesday 18th June

NEXT DOMESTIC WASTE COLLECTION - TUESDAY 25th JUNE: Please put out waste in tied black bags on Monday evening ready for collection early Tuesday morning.

RECYCLING COLLECTION - TUESDAY 25th June: Green boxes for cans and plastic and glass bottles and containers. Blue boxes for paper and cardboard.

RECYCLING COLLECTION - TUESDAY 2nd JULY: Recyclable green garden waste. Please use City Council clear bags or green bags for recyclable garden PLANT waste. Please note that soil or rubble will NOT be collected. If you are uprooting clumps of grass, dead plants etc, please shake the soil off the roots before putting the plants in the green bags.

TETRA PAK CARTONS: Each year 55,000 tonnes of orange juice, soup and milk cartons are thrown away, which is equal to 2.3kg per person. Residents in Birmingham, instead of throwing the milk and juice cartons away can now recycle them. Working with ACE (Alliance for Carton Recycling) there are now facilities to collect Tetra Pak cartons at the Household Recycling Centres. The City Council are not currently able to take them via doorstep green box collections. For more information about Tetra Pak and how they are recycled go to www.tetrapakrecycling.co.uk

For more information on what you can recycle and where please go to the City Council's A-Z of Recycling by clicking here.



Forthcoming Events

Updated Thursday 6th June

Birmingham Bulletin - June Edition

From Birmingham City Council - Leisure Sport and Culture - Tourism - City News and Information - Jobs - Recycling and Environment - plus two great competitions to win tickets to see The Kings of Leon at the Birmingham LG Arena and World class athletics at the Alexander Stadium. For your online copy, please click HERE.

Events in Selly Oak District in June

To find out about a whole range of events which are taking place in Selly Oak District in June please click here. A wealth of information all packed onto a single A4 pdf page! You might wish to use the magnifier function on the pdf reader to read the detail.

Local NHS Listens Event

People are being invited to attend a local NHS Listens event from 5pm to 8pm on Wednesday 12th June at the Clarendon Suites, 2 Stirling Road, Hagley Road, Edgbaston B16 9SB. Everyone is welcome to come along, come and hear about the changes that are happening within the NHS, ask questions and make comments. Patients, the general public, carers and community groups are welcome to attend. For full details please click here.

Neighbourhood Forum and Flood Action Group Meetings

FORUM OPEN PUBLIC MEETINGS are held in October, February, May and July (AGM). These meetings provide an important opportunity to discuss local matters of interest or concern and to inform residents of developments affecting the local area. The next of these will be the AGM to be held at 7:30pm on TUESDAY 2nd JULY at Christ Church, 953 Pershore Road, Selly Park B29 7PS. Thiis is our most important meeting of the year in ensuring that the work of the Forum can continue for the following 12 months. Please make a note of this in your diary and please make every effort to attend.

FORUM MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING: The next meeting will be in September at Christ Church, Pershore Road. Residents who would wish to have any matter discussed by the Committee should let us know please via the means given on the CONTACT US page of this website.

Selly Oak Ward Committee

Members of the public are invited to attend the next meeting of Birmingham City Council Selly Oak Ward Committee at 7.30pm on Wednesday 19 June 2013. This is your chance to be involved in local democracy - a chance to comment or question, or just come along to hear what is going on. For full details please click here.

Selly Oak Neighbourhood Police Tasking Meeting

The next Selly Oak Neighbourhood Police Ward Tasking Meeting will be at 7.00PM on TUESDAY 9th JULY at Christ Church, 953 Pershore Road, Selly Park, B29 7PS. Ward tasking meetings are a monthly meeting where members of the public are invited to raise issues in the area that they live. There will always be a police representative and where possible a member of the local council present. This is a real opportunity to influence policing in the area that you live. Local issues and priorities are discussed and agreed at these meetings. They are then recorded on the West Midlands Police website where all updates of action taken are also available to be viewed.

MP's and City Councillors' Advice Centres

For details of the times and locations of the Advice Centres for speaking with Steve McCabe the MP for Birmingham Selly Oak Constituency please click here.

For details of the times and locations of the Advice Bureaux for speaking with the City Councillors for Selly Oak Ward please click here.

Christ Church Lunch Club, Toddler Group and Friday Coffee Mornings

Activities for the WHOLE community! LUNCH CLUB is each Wednesday. TODDLER GROUP is each Monday and Thursday. COFFEE MORNING is each Friday. For further details please see or LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES section below.


Link to other websites


Link to Christ Church Selly Park

Christ Church, 953 Pershore Road, Selly Park B29 7PS, (0121 471 2379), is the Parish Chuch of the Neighbourhood and provides facilities for the local community including the meeting place for the Neighbourhood Forum. It provides a variety of activities for the whole community. These include:
Toddler Club, for babies and toddlers up to the age of 4 years inclusive and their parents, grandparents or carers. It meets during school term time on Monday mornings and afternoons and Thursday mornings.
Lunch Club, which meets on Wednesdays, for retired members of the community.
Friday Coffee Morning, open 10.30am to 12.00noon. Hot or cold drink and a teacake only £1. Other cakes and biscuits as available. Open to all - everyone welcome.

To view the Christ Church website which gives full details about the church and its activities and services please click here.

Link to our Neighbourhood Police Team

At the start of April 2010 a major reorganisation of the structure of West Midlands Police became effective. The force is now divided into 10 local policing units (LPUs), each headed by a Chief Superintendent who is responsible for the overall policing and management of the area. The 10 LPUs are divided into 171 neighbourhoods, each policed by a dedicated neighbourhood team consisting of police officers, police community support officers and special constables. Neighbourhood policing is supported by a range of forcewide specialist teams.

Selly Park now lies within the South Birmingham LPU, the headquarters of which is Bournville Lane Police Station situated at the junction of Bourneville Lane and Bristol Road. To find out more about Birmingham South LPU please Click here.

Within the South Birmingham LPU Selly Park is now covered by the Selly Oak Neighbourhood Police Team (NPT), again based at Bournville Lane Police Station. For more details of Selly Oak NPT and how to contact them please Click here

Link to Victim Support

Victim Support is the independent charity for victims and witnesses of crime in England and Wales. We were set up over 38 years ago and have grown to become the oldest and largest victims' organisation in the world. Every year, we contact over 1.5 million people after a crime to offer our help.

We depend on thousands of specially-trained volunteers to deliver our services and although we work closely with the police and other parts of the criminal justice system, we are an independent charity.

We have offices across England and Wales and we run the Witness Service in every court. We also run the national Victim Supportline 0845 30 30 900.

To visit the Victim Support website please click here.

BRAVE - the Birmingham Residents Antisocial behaviour Victim Empowerment project

Part of Victim Support we are specifically funded by the National Lottery to support people living in Birmingham who experience persistent antisocial behaviour. Our service is independent, free and confidential.

What is antisocial behaviour (ASB)? It is intimidating or threatening activity that scares you or damages your quality of life. It needs to be caused by someone who does not live in your household and can include harassment, intimidation or aggression; some disputes between neighbours; loud music and noise at unsociable hours. There are many kinds of ASB - please contact us if you are not sure.

You can call us on 0121 236 3919 or email birminghamasb@victimsupport.org.uk You can also contact the Neighbourhood Forum who have copies of our information leaflet which explains the help which we are able to provide.

Link to Warwards Neighbourhood Watch

Warwards Lane and Darris Road Neighbourhood Watch are a very active group with a website which carries community news as well as crime prevention information. As they are our immediate neighbours to the south west and of course in common with us are part of Selly Oak you will find information on their site which is also relevant to our own neighbourhood. To visit their website please click here.

Link to Birmingham Community Alert Scheme

Residents can receive alerts of major emergency incidents and disruptions that are occuring in Birmingham by signing up for free to the Birmingham Community Alert Scheme. Alerts can be sent to land lines and mobile phones and by email, fax and pager. For further information please click here.

Pebble Mill and Holders Lane Friends of The Fields

Updated Monday 4th February

Pebble Mill and Holders Lane Friends of The Fields organisation has now been formally established and fully constituted.

Background: On the evening of Tuesday 11th September over one hundred residents from Selly Park South, the Selly Park Avenues and Sir John's Road, Moor Green Lane West and Elizabeth Road and Holders Lane and Gardens met at Christ Church Selly Park to form Pebble Mill and Holders Lane Friends of The Fields. Its mission is preserving the green space of Pebble Mill and Holders Lane Fields for open use by the local communities. (For more information on the events earlier in 2012 which led to this, please see the LOCAL NEWS page of this website). Since that date an interim Management Committee of the organisation has met on a number of occasions to discuss the future of the area with local City councillors and to formulate a constitution for the organisation

On the evening of Monday 28th January at a public meeting held in Selly Park the Friends of Pebble Mill and Holders Lane Playing Fields was formally constituted and officers and management committee elected to serve for the next year.

Also on open letter has been published by Cllr Karen McCarthy (Selly Oak) and Cllr Lisa Trickett (Moseley - Kings Heath) to help clarify the Council's proposals concerning the playing fields and pavilion at Holders Lane site and Pebble Mill Playing Fields site within Cannon Hill Park. To read this letter please click here.

To access website of the Friends of the Fields organisation please click HERE. The organisation also now has new noticeboards strategically placed within the Fields.

SPS Forum continues to wish the new organisation every success and looks forward along with the other local community organisations in working cnstructively with the it to safeguard the future of this important open area.

Selly Park Residents Community Association

The neighbouring community association to our north - Selly Park Residents Community Association (SPRCA) covers First, Second, Third and Fourth Avenues, Sir John's Road and the east side of Pershore Road between Sir John's Road and First Avenue. To view their website please click here.





Local weather forecasts and warnings

You will need to go to www.metoffice.gov.uk via opening a new window on your browser.
Unfortunately the new upgraded version of the Met Office website whilst providing superior information and graphics does not allow direct linking from other websites.
For WEATHER WARNINGS then navigate to West Midlands via the panel at the top of the Met Office Home Page.
For the LOCAL WEATHER FORECAST type your postcode into the CHANGE LOCATION box.

OR

Click here for the latest Birmingham weather forecast from the BBC Weather Centre.


Local flood risk

flood

FOR IMMEDIATE FLOOD WARNING INFORMATION call the Environment Agency Floodline number on 0845 988 1188. When you are asked if you know the quick dial number for your area to hear flood warning information enter 05212421.

FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AGENCY THREE DAY FLOOD RISK FORECAST please click
HERE.

TO SEE THE CURRENT AND RECENT LEVEL OF THE RIVER REA AT CALTHORPE PARK, please click HERE. This information is provided from the automatic reiver level gauge at Calthorpe. Please be aware that this gauge is downstream from the confluence of the Rea and Bourn Brook and so will not entirely relect the river level in Selly Park South. However it serves as a broad indicator of how the river is behaving. The Selly Park river gauge whilst fully active will not be shown on Live River Levels for some time until suffient data has accumulated to allow full calibration.

Residents living in some parts of Selly Park know that unfortunately they may be at risk of flooding. We strongly advise all residents that you check if your house is in a flood risk location and if it is to register with the Environment Agency’s Floodline Warnings Direct (FWD) service. Click here to access the flooding pages of the Environment Agency’s website where you can check if your home is in a flood risk location, register for the FWD service if it is, check flood warnings in force at any time, learn about how to prepare against flooding and obtain advice on what to do in the event of a flood.

RESIDENTS WHO LIVE IN THE FLOOD RISK ZONE ARE URGED TO SIGN UP WITH THE ENVIRONMENT AGENCY FOR THE FLOOD WARNINGS DIRECT SERVICE. If the level of the River Rea starts to rise dangerously you will receive a call to your landline or mobile to warn you to be prepared IF YOU ARE SIGNED UP TO THE SCHEME. Please use the link to the Environment Agency for details. To read about important recent changes to the FWD system please click here and click here.

To access Report and recommendations relating to the Severe Flood Event in Selly Park South on 6th September 2008 commissioned by Selly Park South Neighbourhood Forum, please click here, and for Supplementary Report please click here

To read important information about the Selly Park South Flood Action Plan and the work of Selly Park South Flood Group Group, please click here.

To watch a short video of the SPS Flood Action Group Coordinator explaining the flooding of September 2008 and subsequent action taken, please click here


To access the National Flood Forum Directory of Flood Defence Products ('The Blue Pages') please click here


Birmingham Community Alert Scheme

Residents can receive alerts of ALL types of emergency incidents in Birmingham that are likely to affect them by signing up for free to the Birmingham Community Alert Scheme. Alerts can be sent to land lines and mobile phones and by email, fax and pager. For further information please click here.



Acknowledgements and thanks

We wish to thank Homegrown Design for designing and building this website and Grassroots Grants (managed by the Community Development Foundation and funded by the Government’s Office of the Third Sector) for providing the funding to create the website. Our website is hosted by BT Business. We also wish to thank those people who have contributed content and advertising.

Our further thanks go to Christ Church, Selly Park, the Parish Church of our Neighbourhood, which so kindly provide venues for our various meetings and our postal address.



Technical and copyright information about this website

Access problems: We are aware that there are occasional problems in accessing our website using Internet Explorer. For the solution to this problem please see the information on our Contact us page. Also, if the adverts and pictures column on the right of this page has not loaded, please use the refresh button on your browser.

Links to pdf files: Many of the click-on links on our site are to pdf files. Your need Adobe Reader installed on your computer to read these files. If you don't have this you can obtain it free off charge from the Internet. Just enter Adobe Reader on a search engine such as Google. Please be aware that the pdf files may take a few seconds to load up once you have clicked on the links. In order to return to our website page once you have read the pdf, please press the BACK TO button on your browser. If you simply close the pdf file you will also close the website window.

Images copyright: All photographs on this website are Copyright (c) John Clayton 2013. For permission to use any of them please contact the Editor via the Contact Us page.


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NEIGHBOURHOOD FORUM 2009
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