Action Briefing Aug 2004 - Sept 2004
	The Newsletter of Birmingham Friends of the Earth

Birmingham's Community Strategy

If Birmingham’s Community Strategy sounds like ideal summer holiday reading material, then the good news is that this scintillating page-turner is up for consultation until 17th September 2004.

The introduction to the consultation document describes the Community Strategy as a 'joint statement of vision and key objectives for improving the economic, social and environmental well-being of communities in Birmingham' to provide an 'over-arching context for these (other) strategies (e.g. economic strategy etc.) and enable agencies to work together more effectively.'

Our last attempt at influencing the Strategy met with mixed success. Birmingham Friends of the Earth sits on the Environment Partnership, part of the City Strategic Partnership, which was asked to submit some of the sustainability objectives, including one on land use. Our land use objective was: 'To give priority to brownfield regeneration and renewal and to resist all development on greenfield land, except in exceptional circumstances where the environmental, social and economic benefits for future generations outweigh the permanent loss of the greenbelt, and where the need for such development cannot be removed by implementing more sustainable policies in other areas of Birmingham’s jurisdiction.'

Unfortunately, a few typos must have sneaked in before the Strategy went to print, for it now reads like this: 'To give priority to brownfield regeneration and renewal, and generally to support the green belt, whilst releasing greenfield land when required.'

Typos aside, some of the other objectives and the language used do reflect some of the points we have been making, particularly in the case of local economic development and the statement that the whole Strategy is about 'social, environmental and economic wellbeing.'

The Community Strategy is probably not quite as binding a policy framework as some we've been involved in, such as the Local Plan, but we still want to get good statements in there that we can hold the Council to later.

The Strategy is quite well hidden on Birmingham City Council’s website: follow the links from 'Your Council' to Reports, Policies and Documents and Key Policy Documents. Alternatively, you can ring the Planning Department on 0121 303 3157 and ask for a paper or electronic copy.

Karen Leach