Elford Walled Garden project looks set to be a ‘Yes’ - Great news!!
Had a really surprising outcome to a meeting with Birmingham City Council today…..Shortly after my election to County in 2005 I met a group of local people from Elford village, near Tamworth. Its a pleasant and leafy part of the world with few serious problems (apart from speeding traffic which is proving tough to police) and a great community atmosphere. Their Christmas Market is something to behold!
Anyway, they first contacted me about a project to restore an ancient walled garden. The problem was, however, that Birmingham City Council, who were bequeathed much of Elford including the Gardens, just wouldn’t talk to them seriously. They’d been trying for over a year previously.
I managed to throw my ‘two penneth’ in to the pot and luckily Birmingham started to talk seriously. Many meetings later and twelve months down the line Birmingham agreed in principle today to the restoration scheme.
The group is led by a police inspector and a semi-retired building engineer who both live in the village. Part of the scheme is quite controversial because it involves using inmates from Swinfen young offenders’ prison to do some of the hard work in an effort to rehabilitate them. There has been real problems in the village with that aspect although the resultant public meeting saw a 4 to 1 vote in favour.
Looking at the situation and the size of the project ahead, normally I would say it will never actually happen. Seeing the projects this group have done in the village before and their attitude, I bet it does!
Feels good that I’ve been able to help along what appeared to be a stalled situation a year ago.
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