Does anyone at Walsall Council care about Brownhills?
I think not. Just look at the facts – flats in the Pleck have been knocked down, and there has been rebuilding straight away. Brownhills flats were knocked down two years ago, and there is still no sign of building while Brownhills people are crying out for housing.
Our railway seems to have no chance with the lack of effort from Walsall Council, despite the fact that it would take a lot of traffic from the Lichfield-Walsall road, link Walsall, Rushall, Pelsall, Brownhills, Burntwood, Lichfield and Burton, and generate more passengers than the Walsall-Wolverhampton line.
We have had the Brownhills Miner (great), the new footbridge linking Clayhanger with Brownhills (great) and now they are doing the footpath to Clayhanger (great again) but still no houses and still no road repairs.
We have just had an election for councillors. I voted but what’s the use if the three councillors are outvoted by the others looking after Walsall.
Among the projects put forward to Walsall Council for funding are the Brownhills bypass, and Walsall town centre. You can bet that it’s Walsall town centre that will gets the nod.
If the local councillors think that they have a mandate from the voters, they should think again.
The number of people that voted was the lowest for years. Why? Because they can see that whoever is on the council cannot do anything or won’t do anything.
We want houses, we want the railway back, and we want all the roads repaired. Brownhills people deserve that much at least.
D Haycock, Lichfield Road, Brownhills.
14 Comments
Not sure how a railway line linking those areas will somehow have more passengers than the link to Wolverhampton.
Last I looked we have no current service linking those places by train so have no figures for passenger numbers.
As for houses, why would Brownhills be more important than Pleck? I would have thought Pleck was more run down so needed the housing more.
Limited resources, can either spend not enough all round or concentrate on each area one area at a time.
Not exactly rocket science.
Martin
Its not just Brownhills thats left in the wilderness. Just look at the state of Willenhall and Darlaston. I dont think the councillors think that Walsall extends beyond the ring road.
Is it the Council that owns the run-down boarded up propertieds in Brownhills High Street? No. Is it the Council that drops litter in the High Street and Ravenscourt Precinct making the place look down at heel? No. Is it the Council that owns the large supermarket with the run-down appearance on Silver Street? No. Is the Council responsible for providing a rail link between Brownhills and Walsall? No. It’s the people of Brownhills who own the delapidated properties, drop the rubbish and make the place feel down at heel. Aldridge and Streetly receive far less funding from the Council than areas such as Bloxwich, Brownhills and Willenhall yet they’re not ankle deep in rubbish. Maybe there’s a different mindset of the people who live there? Returning to the issue of the rail link: Sustrans have converted part of the track to a cycle route so there never can be a rail link between Brownhills and Walsall.
As for the state of Darlaston; does J Eaton mean the derelict scruffy buildings along Pinfold Street? These aren’t owned by the Council. The Council-funded areas such as the recent street improvements in Kng Street make the area look much better.
What is required is a sense of community pride: Instead of running your local area down and expecting someone else to take a stand why don’t you do it: Rally your neighbours together and tidy up your properties, plant some flowers and some trees, do a litter pick. You might make some new friends and find a sense of community pride and achievement
Adam,cannot see anything that says i am running Brownhills down ??I am trying to get Walsall or Aldridge/Brownhills housing Trust to get moving on the House Building, and as for the Railway Track, there was nothing in the setting up of the Cycle track to say it could not revert to a Railway, I was there at the meeting in Brownhills when it was set up,People in Brownhills DO CARE about Brownhills, just ask Doug Birch and some of the local Committee
I agree Derek, Me thinks Adam works for the council….
Adam, I was talking about the general run down appearance of Willenhall & Darlaston. Take the general poor state of the roads it is shameful!! Prime example is the Willenhall road linking Willenhall to Darlaston. The amount of pot holes makes the area like a 3rd world country. The people of Willenhall and Darlaston DO care about where they live. Its the factories that have been empty for years, borded up buildings and the lack of investment / regeneration thats the problem. This falls firmly at the feet of the council for not pushing regeneration in these areas!
And when regeneration is pushed, residents of those areas complain.
I can think of several instances in the past decade where a company wanted to do something in one of the ‘run down’ areas but residents were against it.
Get a reputation for not being a good area to invest in and no amount of regeneration funding can sort out the problems.
Rather than always blaming the council, try blaming the people too.
Does anybody in Walsall care about Walsall ? A question I am asking myself whilst living in Walsall. What chance Brownhills if nobody cares about Walsall !!!!
I left Walsall years ago. I’m born and raised there but I saw the place turn into a sewer so I left. I’ve never looked back. I hear they’ve removed that lovely oasis of greenery, the arboretum roundabout and they’re replacing the trees with 30 metre high lights!
Steve - that roundabout never had trees, it just had nice greenery. The roundabout was put there after they demolished a petrol station, which was apparently on that site for years, according to my cousin.
And will people take notice of traffic lights with so long between going, when the roads are quiet? There are 5 roads meeting at that point - how long will each traffic light be green to let some through? Do 5 junctions with traffic lights have less or more accidents than the roundabout did?
How bizarre that Walsall Council’s cabinet member for Environment was quoted as saying “We will replace every tree removed and more as part of a comprehensive package of landscaping improvements ……” Those will be the non-existent trees then!
Agree with Ian ,they don*t care about Walsall,i live in the south of the borough and there is totally nothing for the kids down here,especially whenyou see how much is spent on projects up in Blakenall,Bloxwich.
Yes, money is spent on the ‘poorer’ and more ‘deprived’ areas. Higher crime rate, lower education rate, higher unemployment, higher drug use, lower health - for some reason, they tend to be the areas where money is spent more.
brownhills has always been a mess, the high street is full of hoodies hanging around, the shops are dirty and unkempt i for one would never live there its a hole