MY WEEKLY UPDATE

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Dear John,

Today I met with National Highways on Clay Drive in Quinton, to ensure that
their officers saw the impact of their actions. Late last year, National
Grid and National Highways took the decision to cut down more than 100
trees which were protecting residents from the sights, sounds and pollution
of the very busy M5.

When the agencies carried out the work, consultation with the local
community wasn’t carried out and this has impacted residents mental and
physical health, their local environment as well as their house prices.
When a resident reached out to me, I immediately contacted both
organisations and demanded that they meet with me and residents to
understand what they have done.

I was pleased to see National Highways owning up to some of the mistakes
that have been made. Moving forwards, they have committed to meeting with
residents once again to put forward proposals on how they can start to
rectify the situation. I will continue to support residents with this
massive problem that’s in no way of their own making and I have also
contacted DEFRA to seek their backing with this case.

KICKING OFF £100 MILLION OF ROAD RESURFACING

I am extremely pleased to see work taking place on our roads and pavements.
Over the last few years, I have worked closely with local councillors Jayne
Francis in Harborne and Kate Booth in Quinton to fight for an improvement
to the surfacing of our roads so that they are in better condition.

After much lobbying and campaigning, Birmingham City Council last year
announced a £100 million investment, and it was with much pride that I was
able to announce that Quinton’s roads would be receiving the biggest
investment as the largest improvement scheme in the city.

This week, Harborne High Street, Carless Avenue and Quinton Road West have
seen repair work start to be carried out. This is great news for local
residents who shouldn’t have to face countless potholes or uneven
pavements. I will continue to monitor this work and should you need to
contact me about this, please get in touch at [email protected]
or 0121 392 8426.

VISITING LANDER AUTOMOTIVE

Earlier this week I visited Lander Automotive, a brilliant business in
Bartley Green that has been part of our local community for over 30 years.
It was fantastic to hear from them about the work they’re doing. In
particular, I was really impressed to hear about their award-winning
apprenticeship scheme that not only has seen them ranked 14th of the top
100 apprentice providers in the country but has also seen them win the 2021
National Apprenticeship Service’s Best SME Apprentice Employer.

This is an incredible achievement especially when we consider what has been
an extremely difficult few years for the automotive sector. Not only have
they had to navigate the Covid-19 pandemic but our automotive and
technology sectors have been facing a shortage of computer chips meaning
that production volumes haven’t returned to pre-pandemic levels.

I will continue to offer my support wherever possible to our brilliant
local businesses like Lander Automotive. Businesses like these in our
communities need all the help we can provide.

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JOINING THE BIRMINGHAM LIVE EXEMPT ROUNDTABLE

This week I joined Birmingham Live for a discussion on exempt
accommodation. My fellow panellists on the Facebook Live Roundtable were
Police Chief Superintendent Stephen Graham, Ashley Horsey CEO of Commonweal
Housing and Denise Forsyth who is a campaigner in Handsworth.

We discussed how a largely unregulated exempt sector, which provides
housing for those with a range of complex needs, has led to an explosion of
low quality and poorly managed housing.

While five years ago there was relatively little in the way of this type of
housing, there are now an estimated 21,000 people receiving enhanced
benefits for this additional support. The issue with this type of housing
is that often, residents are not receiving the extra benefits they require,
and landlords are taking advantage at the expense of their tenants and the
communities which they ought to serve.

We cannot allow this to become a way to provide care on the cheap. The
Government thought initially this was an easy way to provide supported
accommodation but without checks and balances it is ripe for exploitation.

WATCH THE FACEBOOK LIVE ROUNDTABLE HERE 

© 2020 Printed from an email sent by Preet Kaur Gill. Promoted by A.J Webb
on behalf of Preet Kaur Gill, both at 56 Wentworth Road, B17 9TA.
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