Happy New Year!
I hope you were all able to enjoy some time off with family and friends over the Christmas break and refresh yourselves for the year to come. New year is a time of hope for many, looking forward to what the next 12 months will bring. Let’s hope it brings peace both abroad and at home.
Unfortunately, last week our number one priority was helping protect people’s homes from the intense flooding we saw in various parts of the borough, following the sustained heavy rain over Christmas and New Year. Our teams responded to a huge volume of calls, doing everything in their power to keep our residents safe and their homes dry. There are a few points I want to make about flooding as it is understandably one of the biggest concerns for many Silhillians. It is disheartening for me personally to see how many have suffered from these extreme weather events that we seem to be facing these days.
First of all, I do need to praise the efforts of the Council staff responsible for dealing with flood management and prevention. A multitude of our people were out in the small hours of the night delivering sandbags and giving support to those that need it. They’re a small team, who respond 24/7, and in times of extreme pressure they have to prioritise protecting people’s homes. If you reported a flooded road and nobody arrived on site straight away, it’s because they were elsewhere ensuring people were safe in their homes. Whilst it may appear inconvenient, our roads are often designed in such a way that they take floodwater away from houses when there is extreme rainfall like last week.
I would urge and remind all residents not to drive through flood water and to always seek alternative routes.
If you see flooding or signs of it, there’s a list of numbers to call here which tells you which agency you need to contact and how to do that.
We don’t wait for flooding to happen before acting. Throughout the year the team are maintaining and improving infrastructure like drains and roads and working with landowners to ensure ditches are kept clear. After previous bouts of flooding in the last decade, we secured Environment Agency funding and installed mitigation schemes which protected hundreds of homes last week and will continue to do so in the future. We’re working to replace drainage systems that simply weren’t built to deal with the conditions that we face.
We’re in budget season at the moment, looking at our revenues and how we spend money to get the best possible value on behalf of our residents. In common with more or less every other council, money is tight. We don’t just look at spending for one year, but several years ahead, and we’ll be thinking hard to ensure that we can continue to deliver the services you need in a cost-effective way.
Crime is another issue that we hear from residents a great deal and we regularly liaise with the Neighbourhood Policing Team. December may be holiday season, but the Solihull Neighbourhood Policing team made 17 arrests during the month for offences including robbery, burglary, and vehicle crime. I know they’re very grateful to members of the public who supported them by providing dashcam and doorbell camera footage. They are committed to tackling this kind of crime and I really hope they have a productive 2024 keeping our streets safe.
Whilst on the subject of local policing, there’s a consultation running until the end of this month on whether to transfer the functions of the local Police and Crime Commissioner to the West Midlands Mayor. I won’t go in to detail in this message as all the information can be found here.
This coming year, you’ll see progress on a number of projects, with some coming to fruition. You will notice the focus on our town and village centres throughout 2024 and beyond, as we work with our communities to make our public spaces the best they can be:-
Our first Family Hub opened last year and it will be joined in 2024 by three further sites. Family Hubs will play a vital role for children and families across Solihull, offering a ‘one-stop shop’ approach by bringing services under one roof. They will offer health appointments, including seeing midwives and health visitors, social activities, support for parents, help for people with special educational needs, playgroups and youth clubs.
They will also be able to offer advice to help with debt, mental health issues and addictions as well as adult education and much more.
We’ll be pushing forward with our 10-year plan to redevelop Mell Square as part of the Town Centre Masterplan. At the back end of last year we appointed Muse as our development partner, and I shall be excited to bring you news of those plans throughout this year and years to come.
In Kingshurst, where we’re redeveloping the Village Centre, you can already see the shells of the high-quality housing we’re building for local people. You can expect to see that work continuing through 2024 as we make sure people have a great place to live, work, and shop.
I should have some news to bring you soon on our exciting Solihull Town Centre Energy Network. The network will provide affordable low carbon energy to town centre buildings, and we’re expecting to make progress this year. There’s a dedicated bulletin to keep you up to date with the latest developments.
Finally, 2024 is an election year. Now it’s not unusual for it to be a Local Election year of course, with those coming up in May, but it’s also almost certain to be a General Election year. I won’t speculate on when it will come, that’s for the government to decide, but whenever it takes place I’d urge you to get involved. Many people around the world never have the chance to participate in free and fair elections and we should be proud of the opportunity.
Wishing you a peaceful and productive 2024.
Councillor Ian Courts, Leader of Solihull Council.