Friends of the Earth Birmingham Action Briefing Oct-Nov 97

Lee Bank Street Carnival

On Saturday 30th August, Friends of the Earth held a stall at the first Lee Bank Street Carnival. The weather held out despite unpromising clouds earlier in the day. Several bands, a DJ and the usual bouncy castle and face-painting ensured a good time was had by all.

"The organisers of the carnival were extremely happy with the way things went as it was our first attempt. We hope that this will prove to residents that we can get together and organise events." said Steve Austin, Chair of the Community Residents Forum. This was an important event for an area that has often been neglected in the past. It undoubtedly helped lift the spirits of the community.

Some of the money raised will go to help impoverished families go on day trips and the rest will be spent on the Lee Bank Chamber of Commerce.

The Lee Bank Chamber of Commerce was set up about three months ago by local people as a self-help group to encourage people to set up their own businesses and support existing local traders. With unemployment constantly running at 35% such a scheme is clearly vital. Area improvements will also help alleviate the drain of those people who do get jobs and then move from the estate. Lee Bank also has a Community Residents Forum which works with the Chamber to liaise with the Council and other bodies to obtain funding for the improvements desperately needed on the estate.

The organisers are considering a repeat carnival next year. Some of the issues that were discussed by people attending were the very low quality of housing in the area and an asthma level of 50% for under fourteens (exacerbated by being hemmed in by traffic on all sides). Residents' life-spans in Lee Bank are, on average, 5 years less than the average for the city.

Areas like Lee Bank graphically illustrate the failure of planning policies which assumed we'd all be car drivers and took little account of the need to plan to support a strong community. 82% of families in Lee Bank have no access to a car, which is double the city average and is a figure used by economists as the depth of poverty in an area. Clearly, whilst this is good environmentally for the residents given their already big health problems, it also shows a serious social divide between the estate and neighbouring areas such as Edgbaston.

On a more positive note, following a poster which appeared on the Bristol road which reads "Welcome to Lee Bank, Birmingham's Slum Quarter" and a demonstration on the roof of a Councillor's house, the Council set up a focus group to look at ways of improving all aspects of life in Lee Bank. This has led to a bid for £40 million recently being made to the Government for housing improvements. Whilst a welcome start if the government agrees, much more needs to be done. Some estimates put the total cost of restoring the estate at £100 million or more.

James