Summer in Acocks Green – New Plans – Take our Survey Now!!

May 11th, 2009 . Posted in Uncategorized, survey | No Comments »
Acocks Green in May

Acocks Green in May

Stop Press: See New Postings on Tesco/Swan Centre, Acocks Green Centre Designs, and Red Route possibility,  After this post.

We have been running our survey for a while now.  This summer, however, it is more relevant than ever, which is  why it is still here.   A re-design is seriously being proposed for the centre.  Discussions are taking place now.  What do YOU think of Acocks Green centre?   What do you like?  What do you dislike?  What would you change?  Have your say NOW.   An Acocks  Green Shoppers’ Survey was commisioned by Birmingham  Council at the end of last year,  and the results have already been processed.  However,  as Council employees have themselves conceded this survey was mainly targeted on those who were shopping in Acocks Green.  If you live, or work, in Acocks Green, but  don’t shop there all the time why not?  If you do shop in Acocks Green but missed the Council survey, here is your chance to jump in with your say, before it is too late.  If you took the Council Shoppers’ Survey there may have been other questions you would like to have been asked.  If you are a local trader,  or service provider, in Acocks Green, what is your ‘take’ on things?   Some of our questions are different, and there is space for extra comment.  We will be sharing our results with the Council and the local media.

So far only 23.1% of respondents have agreed that they would feel happy showing visitors around the centre.

Here, verbatim, are the last ten responses to our question:  What three things would improve the centre of Acocks Green?    A few  spelling mistakes have been sorted out,  but no other alterations have been made:

1. Not enough space to park on residential streets *could use more street lights near where I live *bridge over woodcock lane to woodcock lane north needs to be made safe & well-lit Fri, 8/5/09 7:56 AM

2. A good pub.  A good cafe.  A good deli. Fri, 20/3/09 8.54 AM


 3. Make the paths wider so there is more space to walk. Mon, 16/3/09 1.42. PM


 4. More green area (large flower pots), cleaner area, more bins if possible. Sat., 10/1/09,  8.34 AM


 5. Clean it.  Make it a visually pleasant place to visit.  Make it a complete smokeless zone, Sun 14/12/08 1.59


 6. Widen the road, toilets, too many crossings.  Sun 7/12/08 1.48 pm


 7. Town centre layout, pedestrianisation.  Minimise clutter/reduce signs.  A decent pub. Sat, 1/11/08

8. Better traffic management, take down guard rails, stop cyclists riding on pavements, local police presence. Fri, 31/10/08, 8.32 AM


 9. More parking, clean it up, encourage more ‘upscale’ shops. Mon, 27/10/08, 1.07 AM


 10. Greater  balance needs of cars and pedestrians, more local shops, too many low quality chain shops which are probably the bottom of their management, greater activities on the wider pavements, eg market stalls. Mon 6/10/08, 8. 16 PM

Do you agree, disagree, have other thoughts?  What do you think?  Take our ten minute survey here today: take the survey

Red Route for Acocks Green?

June 9th, 2009 . Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
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The following report appeared in The Birmingham Post today, 9 June 09.  At present we simply add a link here.  Any thoughts?  Red Route for Warwick Road?

Swan Song? The Planned New Tesco Centre in Yardley

June 6th, 2009 . Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
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So The Swan Centre is now almost gone for ever.  How will the planned new Tesco Centre affect the heart of Acocks Green.   After visiting today we saw it like this.  We loved the advertising hoarding over the underpass next to the site.  Can we believe this?Anyone who had a Heart?Birmingham: A Global City with a Local Heart’ the placard over the nearby underpass reads.  But where is our ‘local heart’ to be after the Tesco’s Development is finished?

A Birmingham Mail Story on the site is Here

If Acocks Green centre is to retain its status as the local ‘heart’ of the area it needs to be re-thought and updated as a matter of urgency.  We think the Council preliminary plans and studies are a step in the right direction.  Let’s keep on now, to make sure the Council follows through.

Drafts for Acocks Green Centre

May 18th, 2009 . Posted in Campaigns | No Comments »
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Draft: Examples from West Brom, Sheffield and Dublin in Connection with the Acocks Green Feasibility Study

Draft: Examples from West Brom, Sheffield and Dublin in Connection with the Acocks Green Feasibility Study.

There has been renewed interest in suburban centre re-design in Brum  in the past few weeks.   The kinds of ideas Acocks Green Focus Group has been proposing since 2005 are starting to become a hot topic in the city.  Cllr Martin Mullaney chaired a Birmingham City Council Transportation Strategy group discussion with Ben Hamilton-Baillie .  Moseley Forum has commissioned a Hamilton-Baillie Associates designer to draw up  a Shared Space Scheme for Moseley centre. See here:  Birmingham Mail: Moseley Shared Space Plan 14. May 09

Meantime, Acocks Green had a by  invitation only exhibition of three alternative new designs for Acocks Green in March this year.   (Sorry – the ‘by invitation’ was the Council’s idea, not ours, though we managed to get a few more names added to the list!)  The three designs were by James O’Sullivan of the Birmingham Landscape Practice.  James has viewed the Kensington ideas and likes them, as does Acocks Green Councillor Roger Harmer, who came with us to Kensington (see our posting on Kensington below).  Two of the three schemes involved making the two Acocks Green islands into one, adding some more trees, and flowers, retaining some car parking space and providing a public area for events.  On special occasions one road would be closed off.  Generally speaking traffic flow would be smoothed by various measures, clutter would be removed and more trees added.  We would also get much needed extra parking space.

Everyone who saw these ideas seemed very enthusiastic and many positive remarks were recorded on the provided slips of paper.  This seems all round a community and trader friendly scheme, which will still leave it possible for traffic to get through without problems.  A 500 page traffic monitoring report has recently been submitted to Planning and Regeneration for consideration.   This will need to be combined with other local reports which council officers have been working on for some time.    A Local Area Action plan will follow, sometime in the late summer or early Autumn.  In conjunction with this, we have been advised that there will be a further exhibition of plans, to which the general public will be invited.  The date has not yet been set, but watch this space.

Meantime, below, are a quick preview of the ideas collected from the Sheffield and West Bromwhich studies:

Pictures From the Landscape Planning Files: Ideas collected for Acocks Green

Pictures From the Landscape Planning Files: Ideas collected for Acocks Green

See The Famous Kensington Re-Design!

August 16th, 2008 . Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Kensington High Street - New, Uncluttered, Straight Across Crossing

Kensington High Street - New, Uncluttered, Straight Across Crossing

One of the models we have always looked to in our suggestions for Acocks Green centre has been the famous Kensington High Street redesign. This is not a total Shared Space design, but it has features related to Shared Space Most famously Kensington removed many metres of guard rail … the result? Massively improved safety rates.

To find out more why not come with us on 8 September 2008 to see for yourself and to take part in a guided tour that The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea are laying on especially for Acocks Green. We will meet their Chief Highways Engineer, and Deputy Council Leader Daniel Moylan, who was the councillor most involved in the redesign.

See Kensington and meet Daniel Moylan and Shared Space expert Ben Hamilton-Baillie on this video clip here: Daniel Moylan on Kensington High Street

This may be the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea but the trip will not cost you a king’s ransom. We will be leaving at 10.05 am on Monday the 8th September from Solihull Station and travelling, on The Chiltern Line, in parties of 3 or 4 on special group off-peakGroup Travel tickets to Marylebone and, from there, taking the tube to Kensington. Total cost: £16.00 per person for a party of four on one ticket or £21.00 per person for a party of three on one ticket.  That includes underground travel. The main rail journey is about two hours. We then take one tube train to Kensington High Street. If you would like to check that out with Chiltern call 08456 005 165 (0700hrs to 2000hrs) or look online at http://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/buy-online/

If you think you would like to come with us why not drop us a line by responding to this post, below. Enquiries about Kensington, with your details, will not go live on the site, but we will get back to you – generally same day.

Update: 2009: And we had a great time.  We were royally entertained by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and shown around the famous re-designed High Street.  We took lots of pics of our day out – see the ‘Improved Street Design’ page for our trip photos.   We have since shown many of these pictures  to Cllr Neville Summerfield, Cabinet Member for Regeneration, and to the Birmingham Landscape Practice Designer James O’Sullivan.  James has recently presented a redesign proposal  for Acocks Green to Planning and Regeneration.  (James liked the Kensington pics too.)

A Conservation Area for Acocks Green?

May 24th, 2008 . Posted in Conservation area | No Comments »

Going, going gone ... “

This picture of 20 Dudley Park Road, in the process of recent demolition, was kindly supplied by David Treadwell from Acocks Green Neighbourhood Forum. The Forum are supporting The Focus Group in our campaign for a Conservation Area in Acocks Green. The picture helps to say exactly why we need one.

The link here takes you to a disturbing story in our neighbouring suburb of Hall Green. Highfield House Reduced to Rubble. Many Acocks Green people have also commented to us about this, and a similar story concerning Gaydon Hall, in Solihull.

Watch this space for further news about our Conservation Project coming shortly.

Stop Press Update: Our Conservation proposals have now been looked at by Birmingham City Council Conservation Department.  They are seriously considering making part of Acocks Green a Conservation area.  We will know more after a meeting in early June.  However, we have been told that our proposals are put together well and that the quality of buildings in Acocks Green means that there is definitely ‘potential’ for a Conservation Area.   Conservation have thanked us for drawing their attention to this area.

Speakers from Acocks Green Focus Group will be outlining the proposals, their implications,  and the need for a Conservation Area at the Next Acocks Green Neighbourhood Forum meeting, at 7.30 pm on Thursday May 14 Acocks Green Baptist Church Hall. (Corner of Yardley Road and Alexander Road, B27.)  For further details of this and other Forum activities  you can also check out the Acocks  Green Neighbourhood Forum’s own new website  here Acocks Green Neighbourhood Forum

Brendon’s Tree

May 2nd, 2008 . Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Brendon Daly, landlord of The Inn on the Green Pub has put a lot of work into the appearance of both the pub, which is an important feature on The Green, and into the new garden outside. This has included adding trees to the front … except that they kept on being pulled out. A frustrated Brendon said:

It is a real shame that there are a few mindless idiots in Acocks Green who do not want The Green to change. Altogether we have had six trees pulled out and, of those, lost three. But we will persist in doing our part to help Acocks Green change for the better.

Acocks Green Focus Group decided to buy Brendon a new tree, a flowering hawthorn. This, so far, has been vandal proof. Julia Larden, Chair of Acocks Green Focus Group said:

Brendon has worked so hard with the pub, and the attached new restaurant La Verde, and has given a lot of support to campaigners like us. We need people like Brendon to stay in Acocks Green, and we desperately need more permanent planting like this to improve the look of the centre of Acocks Green, as well.

See below photo of some of the Focus Group with Brendon (with spade) and tree.

Focus Group with Brendon and Tree
Focus Group with Brendon and Tree

Also see “Tree of Hope” at the Solihull Observer – however, note it is The Green we want to improve, not The Inn on the Green – Brendon’s leading the way and the pub’s been improved!!

There is another piece at  Anger at Vandels Pulling up Tree at the Solihull Times.

Update: May 09

Brendon's Tree - May 09

Brendon's Tree - May 09

Brendon’s Tree continues to grow well, and the rest of Brendon’s garden is flourishing nicely.  Check it out!

Oxford Road Congestion/Bus Lane

May 1st, 2008 . Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
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Someone asked a question in a comment that we felt deserved a proper answer.

Since I moved to Oxford Road in 2006 there has been a great increase in through traffic using this road rather than wait in queues on Warwick Road. I see the bus lane is still in place causing single lane traffic 2 years after the meeting about this, so what (if anything) is being done about it?

We do agree that there are serious problems with bus lanes in Acocks Green, especially on Dudley Park Road. We did our own survey on this.  One of the problems is, indeed, traffic peeling off into other roads.  As you note from information on our blog here, we have discussed this problem with The Council.  In principle they have agree with us that the bus lane should go.  However, it was also agreed that, instead of rushing through an expensive scheme, just to replace the bus lane, things should be properly thought through and coordinated with a bigger plan for a more comprehensive re-design for Acocks Green centre.  For this a feasibility study is needed.

Money for a feasibility study was promised last year.  This money (£20,000) is still there to be spent. The funding of the feasibility study was placed on hold last year awaiting the Local Services team to put in place a Town Centre Manager who could best represent them in further discussions about what the study should cover.  The Town Centre Manager post has now been filled.

At time of writing we are awaiting developments.  Watch this space!

Acocks Green Focus Group Campaigns

March 11th, 2007 . Posted in Campaigns | 9 Comments »

Campaign for the Regeneration of Acocks Green Centre

Following our highly successful “Shared Space” Workshop held on September 27 2006 we took part in a meeting with Birmingham City Council Regeneration Team for the East Birmingham area. The meeting was attended by Council planners and representatives from the Transportation Department as well as by representatives from a range of Acocks Green organisations. Everyone seems in broad agreement that, although Acocks Green centre has great potential as an urban village, it has suffered from lack of investment in recent years. For one thing, the village is not as accessible as it might be. This applies equally whether the people wanting to use it are pedestrians, car drivers or cyclists – see our street furniture pics for some ideas why! This, hopefully, is about to change. A redesign may be on the way. Another meeting of Council officials and residents’ organisations is about to take place on 20 March 2006.

New Shared Space Workshop

Watch this space for more details. A new Shared Space Workshop has been arranged for Monday 21st May, 7 – 9 pm at The Inn on the Green, next to The Green, Acocks Green. All welcome, but, in particular, those who live or work in Acocks Green, or whose work concerns Acocks Green.

An Earlier Campaign

At peak times and frequently throughout the day, a substantial queue of traffic builds on Dudley Park Road, waiting to join the out-of-city queue on the Warwick Road.

Traffic on the Warwick Road approaching the Acocks Green island frequently builds to a slow-moving queue reaching back to Broad Road/Flint Green Road.

Stationary traffic

The Focus Group has noted that:

1. The bus lanes on both roads restrict cars to a single lane.


Uncontrolled crossing

The action -Following much correspondence and an office meeting with Rachael Kingsley of Birmingham City Council Transportation Strategy, the Focus Group held a site meeting with BCC – present for BCC were Rachael, John Blakemore and Councillor Len Gregory, Cabinet Member for Transportation.

The result – so far…..

The BCC team had been considering changes to this area of Acocks Green. These issues will now be considered in the broader context of the discussions for regenerating the centre of Acocks Green scheduled to begin between Birmingham City Council and local residents’ organisations on 20 March 2007.