Calling Time on Covid Vaccine Centre

After almost two years of outstanding service delivering Covid vaccinations from Falcon Medical Centre, the Sutton Coldfield Town Hall vaccination centre will be winding down from 1st January 2023. This is due to a dramatic reduction in demand over the past weeks.

Since the doors first opened, Dr Rahul Dubb and his stellar team have achieved the incredible feat of administering 173,885 vaccines, becoming the leading GP vaccination site in Birmingham and Solihull. This has had a tremendous impact on Sutton Coldfield, saving lives, hospital admissions and returning many patients to some form of normality following the painful period of shielding and uncertainty.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all the teams involved - the nurses, staff and volunteers – for their hard work over the past 2 years. They made such a difference.

Vehicle Theft

In last few months there has been an alarming rise in vehicle crime across the Royal Town. West Midlands Police have been undertaking wider intelligence and investigative work to understand why vehicles are being stolen or have parts removed, the prevalence of ‘chop shops’ and whether the thefts are confined locally or part of wider criminal activity.

Birmingham East’s Chief Superintendent Mat Shaer has set up a Vehicle Crime Task Force, which aims to disrupt activity and bring offenders to justice. In addition, our Crime Reduction Team are currently supporting improvements in security at key locations across the West Midlands, which have been highlighted as hot spots for vehicle crime. This also involved the development of partnership working, with people, such as hotel chains, large retail outlets and even manufacturers in order try and stamp out crime.

A full review of vehicle crime wanted offenders has seen the number of persons wanted for vehicle crime reduce by almost half over the past two months.

In a recent letter to me, Mat outlined the following further action being taken:

- My neighbourhood teams are working alongside the Vehicle Crime Taskforce on some proactive operations in the area over the next few weeks and will be conducting high visibility patrols and providing residence with crime prevention advice, through messaging on WMNOW, Social Media and leaflet drops, putting vehicle crime and burglaries in the spotlight. To respond to overnight crime we have, in recent weeks, requested support from other departments who do work night shifts such as Traffic officers and they are tasked with patrolling the areas where we have had overnight burglaries. Sutton Coldfield saw a spate of burglaries mainly in the Walmley area at the beginning of October- due to this, I authorised a significant amount of dedicated burglary overtime. The teams were provided with a document containing the latest information and intelligence and areas to patrol so they had clear direction. The focussed work significantly reduced the crime spike with some good intelligence gathered.

- All my officers are fully briefed and are targeting wanted offenders and are conducting cocooning for all residential burglaries.

- My neighbourhood teams have assisted CID colleagues with areas searches, arrest attempts and cctv enquiries for a number of burglaries of which we have seen some positive results this month, including two offenders arrested and charged with 6 offences in the Sutton area and a further two arrested and charged with 6 distraction burglaries, while another two offenders were charged with a burglary in Four Oaks.

- There are covert tactics around the Walmley area and Sutton Trinity which feature in the deployment plans of the Vehicle Crime Taskforce for proactive tactics.

Royal Town Cinema Update

Efforts are continuing apace to secure the funds to renovate and open the Royal Town’s cinema. Although there is a slight delay in the planning money being released I remain hopeful that relatively early in the new year I will be performing the opening ceremony. I know many people in the Royal Town will be looking forward to this.

Parkinson’s Windfall

Earlier in the year I took part as a judge in a schools’ speaking competition - ‘Lycaspeak’ - which was held across inner city schools in London.

In exchange for my participation, I was asked to nominate a charity in the Royal Town to receive a cheque for £500 (always a tricky decision!). On this occasion I nominated our local Parkinson’s UK branch, of which I am the patron. It is a vital charity in our Royal Town which is close to the hearts of many in our community.

I am pleased that Parkinson’s have now received this cash boost which I am sure will be wisely spent in support of this important cause.

International Development Select committee

On Tuesday I gave evidence before the international development Select Committee in the House of Commons, setting out priorities for UK development while I am the minister.

I emphasised the need to bolster Britain’s reputation as a development superpower, which has inevitably been affected by recent decisions and events.

Outlining my proposals to make development work as best as it can within difficult constraints, I identified salient problems facing the department, which need to be addressed urgently. This includes undertaking structural reforms, recruiting and retaining expertise and bridging gaps in capacity. I reiterated my commitment to absolute transparency and delivering value for money so that we can demonstrate the effectiveness of UK development policy to the tax payer.

Select Committees are cross-party working groups of MPs whose role is to scrutinise the actions of government departments. These committees conduct investigations into different aspects of policy, assess the strengths and weakness of decisions taken, and make recommendations for the future.

Energy boost for Royal Town Schools

This week the government has announced that schools and colleges in England will receive £500 million to improve energy efficiency on top of £2 billion this year and next for schools, delivering a world-class education while helping schools and colleges to reduce their energy consumption and save on bills.

As I have reported previously, Schools in the Royal Town are facing much higher energy bills this winter due to Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine. I recently met with school leaders to discuss the urgent need to help them address the rising costs.

The government’s pledge is very welcome news indeed which underlines its commitment to education.

Useful Information

Train Strikes: The RMT union has announced strike action on 13, 14, 16 and 17 December, and on 3, 4, 6 and 7 January, coordinated across other train companies and Network Rail, with the TSSA union also striking on Avanti West Coast on 13, 14, 16 and 17 December.

MHRC: Please see below the visits scheduled for the week commencing 19th December 2022 of the Council’s Mobile Household Recycling Centre:

• Mon 19/12/2022 Reay Nadin Drive B73 6UL Sutton Vesey
• Tue 20/12/2022 Plants Brook Road B76 1EX Sutton Walmley & Minworth

Reminder of Road Closures over Christmas: HS2 works will be carried out between Junctions 9 and 10 of the M42 from Friday 23 December until Tuesday 3 January. Anyone with questions regarding the closure can contact HS2 helpdesk on 08081 434434 or hs2enquiries@hs2.org.uk.

Christmas Community Games on Monday 19th December: