MP newsletter - bin services, good news on police resources, and better support for victims of crime - 05 May 2025
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Good evening, and thank you as always for subscribing to this newsletter.
First, I want to start with an apology, because I am conscious that it has been a while since I last wrote. The reason for the delay is practical. Some people know that I am a (fairly) recent first-time parent, and as childcare demands change (and, literally, become more of a handful), the time available for writing these newsletters has fallen.
I aim to include as much information as possible, and to present updates in my own words, but I do also want to get these newsletters out more frequently. They are an important part of the way that I want to communicate with constituents.
I am thinking about how to balance quality with frequency, and it may be that future newsletters are shorter but appear more regularly.
For reasons of space, this newsletter covers a few topics in depth (rather than trying to cover everything I have been up to). I hope to ‘catch up’ on some of this local and national activity in future newsletters.
Birmingham news
Bins: industrial action
There is no other topic to start with than the bins. The dispute in the waste service has caused enormous disruption for residents, businesses, and public services.
For almost a year, I have said that the waste service did not meet the basic standards that residents expect in too many areas. Whatever happens over the next few weeks, we cannot go back to the ways things were before.
I think it’s best to start with the latest factual information:
All areas should now have had general waste collections, and weekly general waste collections have resumed. However, I have come across some exceptions (such as some smaller blocks of flats). Please contact me if you have not had a general waste collection, and I will flag the address with the Council.
Recycling collections remain suspended for the duration of the strike. If you can’t get to the waste centre, or if it is not practical to store recycling, then if you place recycling in the general waste then it will be collected while the strike remains in force.
Kings Norton waste centre’s opening times have been extended from 10:00 to 22:00. However, I know that residents have found it difficult to book slots, which are released at midnight and are taken quickly. I have raised this issue with the Council, and they have promised to look at whether the slots can be released more gradually to avoid the ‘midnight rush.’
Some 38,000 tonnes of waste have been removed. By and large, the piles of waste that dominated our TV screens have been cleared. Street cleansing teams are following in behind the collections in as many areas as possible to make sure that any unsanitary traces are dealt with.
Flytipping remains a challenge (as residents and users of Bell Holloway found when the road was closed following dumping of waste). As above – if you see accumulated waste then please report it to the council, or to me.
Government support has helped get the service back on track. Much has been made about the deployment of ‘the army’ – in reality, this consisted of three logistical planning professionals, who have now finished their work. The Government has made efforts to bring both sides to the negotiating table, and it was confirmed in Parliament that financial support is being discussed. I think this is essential, given the wider difficulties in Birmingham’s budget position.
Talks remain ongoing – but negotiations are in a difficult place. Last week, the gap between the two sides’ positions seemed to have narrowed, with Unite reportedly (£) accepting that the Grade 3 Waste Recycling and Collection Officer (WRCO) role at the heart of the dispute will not go on, and the Council indicating that pay for transferred workers would be protected. Unite publicly said that an agreement was within ‘touching distance.’
However, that settlement is now in doubt, after a regrading exercise indicated that drivers’ roles will be downgraded from Grade 4 to Grade 3 (the equivalent of a pay cut of between £7,000 and £8,000, depending on length of service). This result is indicative, not final, but it has thrown the wider settlement into doubt.
This dispute cannot be separated from the equal pay problems that have dogged Birmingham – and will have cost close to £2 billion – over the last 20 years. There might be another time for writing a fuller account of that history, but in the present day, the following facts are relevant:
The WRCO role was one of the equal pay comparators in the case brought last year (and ‘the role which causes the most concern,’ according to the Council);
Some 2,500 Council jobs are subject to Job Evaluation as part of a 2023 agreement, which aimed to eliminate the city’s long-term equal pay liabilities. This is the reason why the driver role is also subject to re-grading.
Unite and the Council are now holding new talks at ACAS (the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) to try to find a solution.
In my experience (as a former trade union officer), the details of the outstanding points, and the likelihood of a breakthrough, is known only to the negotiators ‘in the room.’ With that in mind, my priorities are:
A fair settlement for the affected refuse workers;
No new equal pay liabilities;
All parties need to be signed up to creating a waste service that is better than the one before the strike.
Much of my time – and my office’s time - has been spent chasing up reports of missed collections, and I am glad to have secured remedial collections for a number of homes and commercial sites. I’ve also commented for the BBC, in Parliament (including in a debate on flytipping – it was good to be able to mention the Rubery wombles), and in the print press.
As always, if you are missing a collection then please feel free to get in contact.
Police - more resources secured
I’m glad to be able to report some good news – the campaign to secure more police resources has yielded results. Funding has been secured to employ an extra 170 police officers and PCSOs (150 of which are officers) across West Midlands Police, and I am pleased to be able to say that I played a part in getting this result.
Crime and anti-social behaviour was the number one issue on the doorstep last year. I recently spoke to young people in one part of the constituency who said they were often too intimidated to leave the house outside of the school holidays. This is unacceptable; no-one should live in fear on their own street.
Crime has many causes, but cuts to West Midlands Police have to be high up the list. I’ve heard directly about the frustration that serving officers and other police staff feel when some calls cannot be responded to, and some investigations cannot be concluded. West Midlands Police lost 1,200 officers and PCSOs between 2010 and 2024 – among the sharpest cuts in the whole country.
I recently raised the issue at Prime Minister’s Questions (you can watch the exchange here and below), where I talked about knife crime and called for the bid to be accepted.
I am delighted that political pressure has paid off. The task now is to make sure that the communities in Northfield constituency get their fair share, and I am sure there will be more to report.
This is by no means the end. More resources are still needed. But it is an important start, and good news for community policing.
Some people have asked about how questions at Prime Minister’s Questions are allocated. It is done on a lottery basis – you just have to keep applying, and hope that your number is drawn.
Longbridge - 20 years on
MG Rover collapsed 20 years ago last April. Former Northfield MP Richard Burden has written at length about the sequence of events that led up to the company’s failure, the devastating impact on the 6,000 workers who were left at the end, and the ultimately failed attempts to retain car production at the site in the years that followed.
Rover’s collapse cast a long shadow. To this day, Northfield constituency’s male unemployment rate is ten points higher than Birmingham’s as a whole. The final payments to ex-Rover workers were only made a few years ago. Longbridge’s industrial heritage should be a source of local pride, and the aftermath of its collapse a warning for other communities (especially as the future of the steel industry was, for a moment, in the balance).
The redevelopment of the site is now nearing completion. Birmingham’s good news stories need to be shouted about – so I was glad to join Richard Parker (West Midlands Mayor) to see the manufacturing jobs that have finally returned to West Works site. Waters, a specialist pharmaceuticals manufacturer, is operating one of the new industrial units. Allsee – a manufacturer of specialist LED signs and touchscreens – has given Birmingham a vote of confidence, and it is opening a new factory on the site. The number of jobs created may not rival Rover, but more mixed local employment has been a missing part of the redevelopment, and it should be celebrated.
I also joined local councillors and others as ground was broken for the development of the remaining, derelict site. Almost 700 homes are being built on the site (interestingly, the main construction material will be timber, reflecting a brick shortage and lower-emission modes of construction. Almost 40% of the homes will be ‘affordable,’ thanks to conditions from Birmingham City Council.
It was also a pleasure to spend time at Pride of Longbridge. The organisers deserve great credit. It summed up the best view of Longbridge: proud of the past, and optimistic about the future.
Lidl - Northfield high street update
Lidl’s planning application to develop the former Wilkos site has been turned down. Planning decisions are taken by a cross-party committee of councillors who do not have a connection to the area. The reasons given included wanting better pedestrian access to Victoria Common, and a preference for reusing the existing building.
I know that this decision was disappointing to some, and there is strong interest in the future of the site. My own view is that a new building would be better for the appearance and character of the area. I am meeting Lidl later this week with Esther Rai, Councillor for Northfield, to better understand the company’s intentions.
Congratulations
To Northfield Town FC, who have won the Midland Football League Division Two title and secured promotion.
In Parliament
Support for victims of violent crime
More police resources are needed: but care for the victims of crime can often be an afterthought.
The sad reality is that people who suffer life-changing injuries following violent attacks often do not receive the support and care they need. Financial support is available to some victims through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (usually when perpetrators have not been identified), but the scheme is marked by long delays, strange rules, and impersonal communications.
Some years ago, I experienced violent crime myself, and I was left with significant and permanent injuries. One of the things I want to do as an MP is to improve that support for others.
I led a cross-party debate on the subject last week where MPs of different parties called for reform. Tomorrow, I am introducing a new Bill to compel a wholesale review of victim support. This is an issue that, thankfully, does not affect the majority of people, but we need that better support for the hundreds of people in Birmingham who seek support each year for life-changing criminal injuries.
Welfare
One of the dominant issues in Parliament at the moment is the proposed changes to disability welfare payments. I have written at length about the parts of the proposals that I welcome – and those parts that I have serious concerns about.
We don’t yet know when a vote will be taken or, exactly, what will be put to Parliament. I won’t repeat those points (for reasons of space) here, but I continue to work to try to secure changes to that initial set of proposals.
What do you think?
As we look to the future of the bin service – what has your experience been of refuse collection over the years? Some areas received better service than others before the strike – did you receive frequent collections, or were your own collections irregular before?
This information is helpful to me as I map out which areas have persistent problems. In some cases, the delays appear to be linked to particularly narrow streets. In others, a road may be the last listed on a round. But in others, the cause is harder to understand, and your information is useful as I hold the council to account about the future of the service.
Best wishes
Laurence
Member of Parliament for Birmingham Northfield
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These newsletters are mostly written at the weekend alongside domestic duties so please excuse any typos.