Our Summerfield

Welcome the Summerfield Community website. This site has been developed as part of a community project to provide access to local information, promote what’s going on locally and provide a place where residents and community groups can network with each other.

Local residents were asked what kind of information they would like to see included in a neighbourhood charter and agreed that it might be a great idea to produce the charter in the form a website. This site collates useful information that may be of benefit to locals and people moving or thinking about moving into our area sharing why Summerfield is a great place to live!

This website will also hopefully provide a place where locals can put up information and share stories with your neighbours as well as promoting places of interest that you attend or might like to invite others to.

For more information about how to get involved, please contact Alice at Family Housing.

Kala Bell is a graduate of the University of  Michigan and has asked to make a contribution to our website.   She writes here about distracted driving. It would appear from her article that the US does not have legislation yet outlawing the use of  mobiles while driving.   However, despite the UK having such laws, it is quite apparent that they are being ignored by a large number of motorists, and is still a major concern for us as well.

Communities Play Major Role in Distracted Driving Awareness Month

April is in full swing and so too is a month long awareness campaign to help put an end to the growing cases of distracted driving in the United States. The increased role of technology and development throughout the country has had a heavy impact on these cases and brought on the need to raise awareness. Distracted driving can certainly have a major impact on local communities such as Summerfield. Luckily, events and the awareness month are serving to involve communities such as Summerfield and others could one day look to follow in the footsteps of Chapel Hill, North Carolina where there are strong motions against distracted driving. They recently became the first town which placed a full ban on the use of cell phones in any capacity while driving. Lawmakers in the area saw the impact on the community from increased accidents to a decrease in general quality of drivers around town.

In terms of impact on communities, distracted driving is an issue that’s likely to continue coming up in a number of state and local governments in the near future. There is currently no national ban on texting and driving, thus all action must involve these state and local parties. While enacting laws may not be for every town or community, raising awareness could be crucial in the long term.

The numbers of accidents, deaths and injuries have been rising as a result of more distracted driving cases in the last few years. While awareness months such as the one currently going on serve to inform the public, they also help put pressure on responsible parties. In the case of distracted driving, that would be lawmakers, automakers and tech/cell phone developers.

This month there’s been strong debate in Washington D.C. between many of these parties in an effort to break ground on new ideas in the fight against distracted driving. Despite a common consensus thus far, a combination of all three is likely going to provide the best plan for the future. One accident can change an entire community and cutting down on distracted driving cases is a way that they can be minimized. With the awareness month in full swing, the effect of distracted driving is clear and strong motion is in place to fight the good fight in numerous communities.

on number of motorists.

On Saturday February 18th, the Mayor, Cllr Anita Ward, inaugurated the Reservoir as a Local Nature Reserve. The raising of the Reservoir’s status in this way gives it extra protection from inappropriate developments and allows it to have its own governing body with local people having their say. The Reservoir is one of  the city’s great assets, pre-dating Birmingham not just in its incorporation as a city but even as a town and essential to Telford’s canal system on which Birmingham’s  commercial success was built.  And now with its unique mix of industrial heritage, recreational and ecological features, it is poised to realise its true potential.  The activities that were planned to accompany the inauguration were somewhat cutailed owing to the weather, strong biting, winds and torrential rain. But the Reservoir now has local Nature Reserve status and can look forward to a promising future.

On Friday March 1st, representatives from all the Residents Groups in Ladywood and Councillor Kath Hartley met at Summerfield Police Station at the invitation of the new Inspector, Ed Foster,  for the inaugural meeting of a Ladywood Tasking Group. The idea is for the Group to look at the wider issues relevant to improving community safety in the area. By feeding in information from around the ward and identifying the agencies be it the city council, local contractors, statutory services such as fire or the police themselves, who could play a part in solving or easing problems in the area, we can start to move forward as a community.  It is good to have a formal body again that can address Ladywood issues on a regular basis and can act as  a two-way conduit for the concerns of the community. Traffic management and parking were raised by a good number of the attendees as needing attention from the group and also a report that prostitutes are becoming active in the area again albeit only marginally at the moment was  noted. It was agreed to meet monthly for the time being and then review our progress after a suitable interval.

Summerfield regeneration and eco narrative_final

Adam Carey from Family Housing Association in consultation with Summerfield Residents’ Association has put together a definitive account of how Summerfield got to be regenerated and became Birmingham’s first eco village and a springboard for similar projects across the city; well worth reading. Follow the link above.

We found out last Friday at a meeting called by Shabana Mahmood, our local MP that our “communiuty” police station – the one at the top of Icknield Port Road – is still open to the public but only on 3 days a week and only from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. You would be forgiven for not knowing because there is no public notice displaying opening times!

What we need to do to keep it open, but there’s no guarantee, is for people to call in on a regular basis, even if it’s just to say “Hello” and offer support. The police will not hesitate to close the station if they think we are not using it.

There are moves afoot to extend the hours by using volunteers to man the front desk. But first of all we need to demonstrate we want the place kept open.

SGC notes 26 OCT 2011The Gardening Club got underway on October 26th. There were eleven people present and four people sent their apologies. We had a lively discussion about the sort of thing a gardening club could usefully achieve and mapped out quite a lot of areas for pooling resources and knowledge and we also got some idea of the needs and skills of the members present. We were quite aware that this meeting marked only the start of this venture and so we were not aiming to lay down too many ground rules at this juncture. We agreed that once a month would be the right meeting frequency and £1 per person to defray expenses was a reasonable ask.  We postponed any attempt to form a committee or draw up a constitution beyond revolving the position of chair from meeting to meeting – at this stage.  We also determined that the meetings would be held on the last Wednesday of every month. So the next meeting will be at 7.00pm, Wednesday November 30th at the Memorial Hall ( subject to avaiability).  

There will be a meeting at Summerfield Police Station, Icknield Port Rd this Friday, October 28th at 7 pm, to discuss forming a Police-Public Action Group to help fight crime in the Summerfield/Winson Green area and to learn what has been achieved since our last meeting. All residents welcome.

The start of greater things?

On Wednesday October 26th there will be a meeting at the Memorial Hall, Summerfield Crescent, to consider starting a gardening club. Because of our recent success in the In Bloom initiative in Summerfield it is felt that a gardening club where people could come together and share a common interest in gardening and growing things, would prove beneficial to the community and the area in general. It’s  an opportunity to learn from each other, share tips and cuttings, bring in experts from outside, make use of land that might be uncultivated, plan trips to garden centres and exhibition gardens, bulk buy gardening stuff and link up with other gardening societies et cetera. If you’re interested in helping this venture take shape the meeting starts at 7 pm and we’d love to see you.

Icknield Port Loop Newsletter   A public consultation took place at the Deaf Cultural Centre on Saturday October 1st when property consultants Urbed, working for the Icknield Port Loop land owners, unveiled their vision of how the site could be used for new housing and community facilities. There is a two week window for members of the public to add their comments before a draft proposal is made to the city council who will, in turn, put the plans out for further public consultation.  The plans and an opportunity to comment can accessed through the following link: http://icknieldportloop.wordpress.com

Councillor Kath Hartley with the winning teams

At the annual Royal Horticultural Society’s Heart of England It’s Your Neighbourhood In Bloom Awards Ceremony held at the Ramada Hotel, Solihull on Thursday September 9th, Summerfield Residents along with North Summerfield Residents were awarded  certificates in the “Thriving” category for their 2011 entries.  
“Thriving” is the second highest category on the list and considering it is only the second year of entry for both Residents’ Associaitons – a magnificent achievement. For the Summerfield Residents, this community website impressed the judges as did the the hanging basket scheme where residents put together their own baskets to hang outside their houses.   
The judges feel there are further areas for community development before they can award us an “Outstanding” certificate which we will be concentrating on over the next twelve months, namely a gardening club for all residents and a forum for landlords and tenants to drive up standards in the private rented sector and foster a sense of social responsibility especially among some of the corporate landlords who profit from their property portfolios but give little back to the community.