Excellent article. We have a housing crisis, as bad as the 50s, 60s & 70s when the slums and back to backs were demolished. New estates were built at Druids Heath, Bromford, Castle Vale and Chelmsley. Ladywood, Aston & Nechells were rebuilt. There is a complacancy that is unbelieveable now in the Council House, whilst children live in hotel rooms, what start in life is that? We need a programme of prefabrecated homes, some on the boundaries of parks and open spaces to breath life back into our communities.
Paul, thank you — that means a great deal coming from someone with your experience and standing in the Chamber. You’re absolutely right: we’ve been here before, and Birmingham only moved forward in the 50s, 60s and 70s because people were brave enough to face the scale of the crisis honestly and act with purpose. Today’s complacency is indefensible when children are growing up in hotel rooms. Your call for a modern prefabricated homes programme, using available land intelligently, is exactly the kind of practical thinking we need to bring dignity and stability back into our communities.
Do you think the reality of a generation of children being raised in hotel rooms would be enough to persuade people to consider prefabs in places like Highbury, Kings Heath and Cannon Hill Park? I ask because that area holds the greatest concentration of local and national politicians in the region. Could they be persuaded to lead from the front on this?
Mike, no there are heritage sites that should never be touched, however there are numerous derelict pubs, retail sites, offices and commercial sites that could either be repurposed or redeveloped, many of these are on main roads that have all the necessary utilities in place. There are also sites just outside the city that have homes on one side but are designated green belt and could lend themselves to prefabs. The Govt have a homes target that will never be achieved, why skilled labour, they went back to Poland and we have not skilled up our own labour force
Excellent article. We have a housing crisis, as bad as the 50s, 60s & 70s when the slums and back to backs were demolished. New estates were built at Druids Heath, Bromford, Castle Vale and Chelmsley. Ladywood, Aston & Nechells were rebuilt. There is a complacancy that is unbelieveable now in the Council House, whilst children live in hotel rooms, what start in life is that? We need a programme of prefabrecated homes, some on the boundaries of parks and open spaces to breath life back into our communities.
Paul, thank you — that means a great deal coming from someone with your experience and standing in the Chamber. You’re absolutely right: we’ve been here before, and Birmingham only moved forward in the 50s, 60s and 70s because people were brave enough to face the scale of the crisis honestly and act with purpose. Today’s complacency is indefensible when children are growing up in hotel rooms. Your call for a modern prefabricated homes programme, using available land intelligently, is exactly the kind of practical thinking we need to bring dignity and stability back into our communities.
Do you think the reality of a generation of children being raised in hotel rooms would be enough to persuade people to consider prefabs in places like Highbury, Kings Heath and Cannon Hill Park? I ask because that area holds the greatest concentration of local and national politicians in the region. Could they be persuaded to lead from the front on this?
Mike, no there are heritage sites that should never be touched, however there are numerous derelict pubs, retail sites, offices and commercial sites that could either be repurposed or redeveloped, many of these are on main roads that have all the necessary utilities in place. There are also sites just outside the city that have homes on one side but are designated green belt and could lend themselves to prefabs. The Govt have a homes target that will never be achieved, why skilled labour, they went back to Poland and we have not skilled up our own labour force