Weoley Castle - local news

After our walk around B29 included Weoley Castle, and finding a very negative view of Weoley on chavtowns, I wondered what view the outside world gets of the area from various news sources. This would also show how good news organisations are at providing very local news.

BirminghamMail.net appears to be thinking along the right lines by creating a "weoley castle" tag and associated RSS feed. However, it doesn't actually work - zero points for zero results for the tag (and note a related tag is "knife crime"):
The site does actually contain several (mis-tagged?) Weoley Castle stories. At the time of writing, the top 5 are - two anti-social behaviour stories from March 09 (the same family - evictions and imprisonment), an improved school (March 09), a charity worker meeting a Royal (May 09) and a stabbing (from 2008). Not all bad, but not a great vision of community harmony, not updated very often, not helped by technology failure (it would also be helpful if they sorted out their favicon).

BirminghamPost.net doesn't even pretend to have helpful tags. You also can't order the search results - and unlike BirminghamMail, they don't seem to be ordered by date descending. Actually, the ordering of results isn't stated, so I'm assuming it's based on relevance. So, the search results on a news site don't appear in date order, most recent first? Awesome ... . Here, the top 5 search results are:

1. controversy over changing a failing schools into an academy (Jun 08)
2. a business success story for an IT Weoley Castle firm (July 08)
3. a mention in passing of "hardcore white working-class kids" in a music culture piece (Jun 09)
4. the Council disputing a school's absence records in Weoley Castle - 2nd worst in country (Dec 07)
5. a mention of the Weoley Castle Plainsong Ensemble (Feb 09)

So two of these stories are just passing mentions of Weoley Castle, not news from it. Hmm. Also, given that BirminghamMail.net and BirminghamPost.net are run by the same company, it seems strange that only one has implemented tagging (albeit incorrectly), and that searches aren't orderable, the default order being unclear, and there's no way to filter stuff based on whether it's actually news (as opposed to comment/culture/brief mentions). No wonder people are talking about the "death of local news journalism" - if you can't even find stories relevant to you, it's not overly surprising that people won't use the news sources. The group also owns the Sunday Mercury - no results. (*disclaimer* I don't read any of these papers, so I don't understand what the difference between them is supposed to be.)

The parent company also owns icbirmingham, with a similarly crap search. Their top 5 items are: a list of schools for no apparent reason (no date); the same anti-social family (from 2002! both a very old story and a long time for the same family to be causing Weoley Castle trouble); an expats forum; an incidental mention in a piece about an old folk's day centre in Northfield closing (Nov 04); and the same row about absence figures at a Weoley Castle school (Dec 07). However, the group has been making moves towards community sites based around postcodes and local governance reporting so perhaps they might cover Weoley in the future ...

How about the dear old Beeb then? They've got nicely configurable search results (by date, relevance and category), but not a lot of WC news with only one story this year, and only a few mentions in features elsewhere ... I guess The Mailbox is several miles and cultures away from Weoley. (Disclaimer: I used to work for them in New Media, albeit not for the News bit.)

National newspapers-wise, there's not much - The Guardian has 3 stories, latest from 2006 (with configurable search results & RSS, nice :)). The Sun's search just gives some locations of commenters on their forum. I lost the will to google any more.

I LOVE U by Simon Hammond on Flickr

What about sites written by local people? The Castle Community Site looks a bit empty, and has a rather empty forum, though they link to OFSTED reports and minutes from Councillor meetings (£91k to carry out a survey on a single deciduous tree?? I'd be cross about that if I lived there - p2 item 1051), and the local residents' association seems to be having trouble getting enough members. The Weoley Castle.com lists local amenities and shops, while WeoleyCastle.org has links to local history resources, but seems to have been last updated in 2007. There are also some nice old pics of Weoley, which reveal the modern-day versions when you click them.

Probably the richest set of user generated stuff about Weoley Castle is the flickr pictures, with some lovely shots of the area, some historical reenactments and, oddly, a lot of knives. Here's the map view:


View weoley castle flickr in a larger map

Over on technorati, the blog search is pretty slim pickings (though apparently you can't search for the phrase "weoley castle") apart from the videos - there's a few visualisations of the Castle in case you can't make it to the ruins and/or your imagination fails.

And what seems to be a local history video project feat. Trevor :).

Plus a few more randoms that might put you off Weoley Castle like blowing up a (toy) ladybird, those neighbours from hell (again), some kids happy slapping the select&save with eggs and a nasty one of someone shooting a pigeon.

I think the area's crying out for more personal local sites that don't have anyone blowing anything up - though if you know of any more sites, let us know in the comments. If there are any Weoley Castle community groups out there just itching to get a site up, but are not sure where to start, they could try the Social Media Surgery on 14th July, or a UK Online centre.

Finally, the plan for our next walk is to find out definitively whether Weoley Castle is shit or not - if you have suggestions for places for us to visit or want to join us, please comment.

Work continues on the Selly Oak New Road

birmingham.gov have provided another update on the progress of the Selly Oak New Road.

The following works are due to take place from Saturday 3 May 2008

• Preparation for surfacing will be taking place to footpaths.
• Placing service and signal ducts in footpaths of new road
• Drainage works from attenuation tank units to the Bourn Brook.
• Kerbs and trimming sub-base to tie-in with Hospital Link Road Section 1.
• Exposing existing ducts on West side of existing bridge and installing support.
• Constructing ramp for diverting Northbound traffic out of new island.
• Commence demolition of West side of existing bridge

I'm not entirely sure what most of this means - nor does it give any real indication of whether the work is progressing on schedule - but still, it's good to know that those attenuation tank units are being looked at!

There appears to be quite a lack of information, blog posts or even images on the web relating to the development of the Selly Oak New Road so if anyone has anything interesting to add, or fancies going out and taking some photos, then please do, and let me know.

(Here are all the previous posts on this subject.)

I'm moving

This week, assuming all goes to plan, I will be moving out of Birmingham B29.

It's not really a deliberate or planned move.

Initially I thought I was going to be moving within the B29 area... but then I also thought I would be moving with my girlfriend, rather than us going our separate ways.

How wrong you can be.

So, the upshot is that I will be moving to B13, within a short walk from the centre of Moseley.

It will certainly make attending the fantastic Moseley Folk Festival even easier than usual!

However, the problem is what to do with this site.

I could continue representing B29 on the web, after all I have spent enough years living in the year to understand what is going on and present a useful view.

On the other hand, shouldn't Birmingham B29 be represented by someone who actually lives and breathes the air every day, who walks the streets and receives the enticing Selly Oak and Northfield council leaflets through the door?

What do you think?

Anyone interested in taking on B29? Anyone think that it doesn't really matter? I really would be interested in any thoughts you have.

Selly Oak New Road

Another brief update from birmingham.gov on the progress of the Selly Oak New Road:

The following works are due to take place from Monday 4 February 2008:

• Importing and rolling fill material for new road and roundabout.
• Work on north wing wall for the first section of new canal bridge, Harborne Lane.
• Waterproofing, back of wall drainage and backfilling to back of walls.
• Placing gully connections.
• Site clearance and excavation to east pavement will be taking place.
• Work on retaining wall next to B&Q.
• Excavating lagoon and stockpiling arisings.
• Tree clearance to the environmental works off Arosa Drive
  

Both carriageways are restricted to one lane working, which may cause disruption for motorists and pedestrians.

If you need further information please contact either George Underhill on 07977 437305 or Dave Greenaway on 07766 923287.

Here are all the previous posts on this subject.

Selly Oak New Road (update)

Another brief update from birmingham.gov on the progress of the Selly Oak New Road:

The following works are due to take place from Saturday 15 December:

• Importing and rolling fill material for new road and roundabout
• Steelfix and shutter to walls for the first section of new canal bridge, Harborne Lane
• Placing gulleys

Please note that the location of these works means traffic flows will not be affected

Here are all the previous posts on this subject.

Work on Selly Oak New Road begins

Following my post last month on the proposals for the Selly Oak New Road it would appear that, as promised, work has now begun.

This from birmingham.gov, updated on 25th October:

Phase 1A of the scheme includes for the widening of Harborne Lane, reconstruction of Harborne Lane bridge, the construction of a new roundabout at Harborne Lane / Selly Oak New Road, construction of new carriageway across the old Birmingham Battery site and flood compensation works.

The following works are due to take place from Monday 29 October:

• Importing and rolling fill
• Drainage works
• Trial holes in footpaths

Please note that the location of these works means traffic flows will not be affected

If you need further information please contact either George Underhill on 07977 437305 or Dave Greenaway on 07766 923287.

Selly Oak New Road Proposals

According to birmingham.gov.uk, construction on the Selly Oak New Road is about to start. The 'last updated' tag on the page says 2nd October 2007 although this doesn't necessarily mean that the information is completely new.

According to the website

Works are programmed to start in October and last for 10 months until August 2008.

Has anyone else got any further information on this?
Anyone able to shed any light on when construction is actually due to start?
Please comment on this post if you have any additional info...

There's a useful map of the proposed new road on the website, although I've provided a slightly doctored version below to make it, I think, a bit clearer.

The orange line is the current Bristol Rd through Selly Oak, the red line is the proposed new road. The heavily student-populated area including Dawlish Rd, Tiverton Rd et al is the large area shaded green in the centre.


(click on map for large version)

In essence the reason behind the plan is very similar to the Northfield Relief Road which was completed in June this year and allows traffic to progress along the A38 route between the city centre and Rubery/M5 without going through the busy shopping centre of Northfield.

The idea of diverting traffic away from the pedestrian-busy shops/pubs of Selly Oak and allowing heavy traffic a quicker and easier access in/out of the city has been around for some time with many of the details agreed in 2004.

The recent demise of the Knife and Fork (pictured left) was, for many, the first big step in the plan.

The plans for the new road are part of a wider initiative labelled the Selly Oak Local Action Plan which includes a number of other major developments in the area.

Liberty's heli of a curry (from The Sun newspaper)

Sticking on the big-news-from-B29-theme, I was reminded on Friday of this excellent story from 2006.

As reported in The Sun newspaper, pop group Liberty X splashed out £4,500 by hiring a helicopter to deliver food from the Sundarbon restaurant on Bristol Road in Selly Oak, to London.

Apparently Westlife are big fans of the Sundarbon food as well.

Tornado hits Selly Oak (a long time ago)

Whilst searching for any big news story directly related to the B29 area I came across the enticing headline "Tornado hits Selly Oak".

One look at the story, from the BBC website, and it didn't take long to realise that this was quite an old story, from July 1999 in fact.



However, it still made me chuckle for a number of reasons - not least that the story is credited as "From the newsroom of the BBC World Service".

Fair play though, it appears that the story was published by a very alert journalist at a quarter past five in the morning.