Tyburn Mail page 20

COME AND JOIN USat The CrownThe Crown

(formerly: The Forget Me Not seniors) club every Thursdaywe have Sequence, Ballroom, andLine Dancing, pus Raffles, Bingo ,and Cash Draws

from 12.30-3pmAdmission 1 members and 2 for visitors

Non members welcome last Thursday of the month.

Further enquiries call 0121 373 4108We are at 1069 Tyburn RoadB24 0TH

Ample parking or catch the 67 or 914 bus.

COME ALONG FOR A FRIENDLY, SOCIABLE ,AND HAPPY AFTERNOON.

Tyburn Mail has 3 pairs of tickets for Who Do You Think You Are? Livethe worlds largest family history show.

Its on at the NEC from 16th-18th Aprilit will give you the opportunity to talk about your own family history witha wide range of genealogy experts. youve seen the TV show, now itstime to experience it first-hand!.call 0121 749 1343 or email: meverill@tyburnmail.comto be entered into the free draw for a pair of tickets

Hex, a rock/rap music bandmade up of students fromGreenwood Academy, havewon the Birmingham Battle ofthe Bands competition atSouth and City College.The band comprises six teenagers,

Daniel, Nathanial, Tyrone, Chris, Jamesand Dylan. They are managed byTrevor Evans.Hex have already played at Wembley

arena in a concert last year. They alsoplayed at the Castle Vale Live and Loudconcert in the summer.

Two years ago the LabourParty took over a well-run,three-star rated city fromthe Liberal Democrat part-nership administration.

Since then Labours costly incompe-tence has become obvious for all tosee. From wasting 8 million on a glori-

fied tram stop at Centenary Square, tocutting opening hours at the awardwinning Library of Birmingham, to thegarden tax which even their owncouncillors have called a disaster. Now the independent Kerslake

review of how Birmingham is run hasexposed the scale of Labours ineffi-ciency. No council departmentescaped criticism. Kerslake said that

Council plans were complex and con-fused, that Labour had no strategicplan for the future; they hadnt evengot the basics right! Now an independ-ent panel of experts has had to beappointed to hold Labours hand toensure they avoid any more disasters. This is bad news for Labour but

worse for Birmingham. If things dont improve we could find

these unelected experts more involvedin running the city. Not exactly democratic, is it? Birmingham residents should be the

ones to decide this not the man inWhitehall. This is what Labours twoyear reign of incompetence hasbrought us to. The Liberal Democrats will:Restore green waste collections

Freeze your Council tax by takinggovernment moneyProtect libraries and youth servicesRestore 56 hours opening to the

Library of BirminghamRestore household bulky collections

Yes, all this by managing councilfinances well and making use of con-tingency funds. Labour just blame government cuts

but their failures have been their ownand even in challenging times you canhave a well-run council. Its time for Labour to go. Turn them out on May 7. Birmingham and Britain deserve so

much better.

by Ann HoltomParliamentaryspokespersonErdington LiberalDemocrats

I was a little taken abackto find half a page of theFebruary issue of TyburnMail devoted to an articlefrom a ConservativeCouncillor for leafyEdgbaston. However, it is less surprising when

you know that she is the MOTHER ofthe Conservative ParliamentaryCandidate for Erdington . It seems that he needs a bit of help

in his campaign and who can blamehim when he has already been beatenpreviously by Jack Dromey our currentLabour MP!I do not however believe in person-

alising important issues. This has never been my way of con-

ducting politics and never will be, solet me deal with the issues raised andignore her barbed comments.Members of all Parties on the

Planning Committee - including herown colleagues are well aware of thetensions that the growth in our popu-

lation is putting on Cities likeBirmingham. No one that I know of welcomes the

pressure on green space and theincrease in commuter traffic that weface.It is her Government however that

sets the framework within which theCity Planning Department that I chairoperates. The reality is that successiveConservative Governments havereduced the powers of local Councilsand loaded it in favour of large devel-opers and their shareholders. If webreak the rules we can be fined and orremoved from office.

They have rights of appeal that ordi-nary residents do not. They canemploy expensive hot-shot lawyerswho could cripple the City.Her Government has the power to

stop green field development, butchooses not to why? Because it has woefully failed to

make developers build on brownfieldsites and failed to meet its housingtargets. That is why we now have a huge

national housing shortage. They now want an end to social

housing.Her Government promised to end

back garden development whenelected. They have not done so.Her Government has been the driv-

ing force behind HS2 which will takehuge swathes of countryside and put9,000 potential jobs at risk in EastBirmingham if Jack Dromey and otherLabour MPs had not intervened.Her Government is allowing the sale

of national parks.It is only relatively recently that the

Conservatives lost control ofBirmingham City Council yet, just asin Government, you would think thatLabour had been controlling the Cityfor years. It was under her Council that previ-

ous attempts were made to build onthe Nocks Brickworks site and it wasLabour activists who fought againstthis as it was deemed unsafe for hous-ing. For anyone who doesnt know, that

site is in Erdington Ward where allthe Councillors are Conservativesincluding her own son perhaps sheshould ask them what they have beendoing recently?The Goosemoor Lane site (also in

Erdington Ward) was agreed when theCouncil was under ConservativeCouncil.Under Labour we are seeing the cre-

ation of a first new City Park.I am proud to say that the Planning

Committee does not operate alongParty lines. We all share a desire to allow local

residents a bigger say in what happensin this City. Sometimes this can be the judge-

ment of Solomon, but please dont useus as the alibi for the conflicts betweennational and local priorities.

by Mike SharpeTyburn Councillor

(Labour)

...Members of all Parties onthe Planning Committee -including her own colleaguesare well aware of the ten-sions that the growth in ourpopulation is putting on citieslike Birmingham...

Tory MisruleHAs creATeDBruMs Messcouncillor Mike sharpe responds to cllr

Deirdre Aldens article in (Feb)Tyburn Mail

Labour exposed

Hex aretop bandin Brum

article byDeirdre Alden inTyburn Mail, last month