Birmingham ‘crucial to UK’s growth ambitions’

BIRMINGHAM can still have a bright economic future despite the city being hit by “challenging headlines”, a government minister has said, writes Alexander Brock.

The city council faced financial crisis and more recently the bins strike have caused chaos.

Amid this backdrop, Darren Jones MP, the government’s chief secretary to the Treasury, spoke about Birmingham’s prospects during a visit to the HS2 Curzon Street Station last week.

The government has merged two bodies into the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) to speed up major projects, including roads, railways, schools and hospitals.

Birmingham is facing a bins strike, causing rubbish to pile up on the city’s streetsgatty image

“Birmingham has always been and always will be a really important city-region for us in the UK,” Jones said.

“As part of the West Midlands Combined Authority, we want to make sure that Birmingham is thriving, but also that the Black Country is also able to take opportunities that come from that so we can deliver great opportunities for people irrespective of where they live.”

He added: “We know we’ve got some inherited challenges here with the city council in particular, where the government is partnering with them to get a grip of the situation and set them up so they can be successful in the future.

“But there is no question that Birmingham and the West Midlands will be a crucial part of our national mission for economic growth.”

Jones was asked whether he was worried that debacles such as the financial turmoil at the city council and the bins strike chaos could harm Birmingham’s reputation and therefore discourage investors.

“These negative headlines are always difficult for any place, which is why we want to work with the city council to deal with it as quickly as possible,” he said.

“But there is no question that the strengths and assets that Birmingham, and the broader West Midlands, has are really important to us.

“As part of our national mission to try and get the economy back on track, we want to make sure that every region, every place is supported to be able to deliver that success for the country as a whole but also for the local people.

“I appreciate the headlines are challenging right now, but we need to get a grip of that and move on and then focus on what we can do together to really drive success here in Birmingham, the West Midlands and across the country.”

Andy Street, former Mayor of the West Midlands, also recently spoke out about the city’s reputation, telling LBC: “Now we have the association of the second city of the UK with rats – there’s where the reputation has gone.

“What I would say to people is we’ve got to plan now for rebuilding that reputation again because it’s taken a hammering.”

“That will take a bit of time, but we are absolutely committed to it,” he said. “We’ll have a Labour Mayor [in the West Midlands] and a Labour government working together to deliver that and I’m very confident we’re going to be able to do that well.”

He added, “We’ve been very clear we want to get Britain building again and HS2 has been building for a long time.

“They’ve been doing some great things, but we also know the project has lost control in terms of time and cost – and that’s a real problem for us.

“So there’s going to be lots of lessons that we can learn from the HS2 project to apply to other big projects across the country as we look to build more houses, water infrastructure, energy infrastructure and more railways.”

Several issues have contributed to Birmingham City Council’s financial crisis, including the equal pay debacle, poor budget setting, demand-led pressures, a failed new system and funding cuts.

Meanwhile, plans to scrap the Waste Recycling and Collection Officer (WRCO) role have sparked a dispute with Unite the union, triggering the bins strike.

Unite national lead officer Onay Kasab previously accused the council of forcing workers onto pay levels barely above the minimum wage for a demanding job in all weathers.

But councillor Majid Mahmood, cabinet member for environment, said the council had made a “fair and reasonable offer”, adding: “Not a single worker needs to lose a penny. Every worker has been offered the same grade and pay within the street scene division. We are trying to transform and modernise the service.”