Chelmsley Wood man's ink-credible gesture

INKING OUTSIDE THE BOX:
Finlay White, from Chelmsley Wood

A CHELMSLEY Wood man has thought of a rather original way of saying "thank you" to the NHS staff who had cared for his mum while she was being treated for leukaemia.
Finlay White was so grateful to the team at Heartlands Hospital's Ward 19 that he had the unit's logo tattooed on his forearm.
The 28-year-old said: "When my mum was moved to Ward 19 after being in an induced coma, she couldn’t walk, could barely talk and struggled to even press a buzzer.
"The amazing staff on the ward helped build my mum back up. They even made me feel at home while I slept there."
The team cared for Mrs White for five months and following the intensive course of treatment, her son was keen to do something "a bit different".
He hopes the tattoo will raise awareness for the department, which specialises in treating all forms of blood cancer.
The unit has its own charity fund, which raises money for the benefit of patients, and Finlay has encouraged people to sponsor his own unique bit of body art.
More than £700 has already been pledged by supporters online. You can find Finlay's Justgiving page here.

Crime continues to be concentrated around Chelmsley town centre

THE area around Chelmsley Wood town centre has a crime rate almost twice that of anywhere else in Solihull, a new report has revealed.
Figures show that 1,699 offences were recorded in the area over a 12 month period – slightly down on the previous year, but still a significantly higher number than in any other of the borough’s priority areas.
A high proportion of incidents are centred at the town’s shopping centre, the numbers somewhat skewed by the sheer number of shoplifting offences at Asda and neighbouring stores.
However, even when these retail crimes are taken out of the equation, a significant number of reports of offences are still being logged on neighbouring estates.
The report offers a detailed overview of crime across the borough and was prepared by the Safer Solihull Partnership.

It acknowledges that there is still work to be done to address the disproportionate number of incidents taking place in a relatively small area.
It said: “Although the Chelmsley Town Partnership Plus area has seen reductions in total recorded crime, this remains a location where the partnership need to focus their attention in order to… continue to reduce the gap of inequality in volume of crime between this area and other key locations within the borough.”
The findings come at a time when police budgets are under increasing pressure.
Chelmsley Wood Police Station lost its front office facilities almost 12 months ago and former Kingshurst councillor David Jamieson, now the region’s Police and Crime Commissioner, has warned of a further strain on finances to come.
“The Government need to consider how much money police forces require to keep people safe rather than administer arbitrary cuts,” he said.
The statistics also reveal:
• Rates of criminal damage are higher in Chelmsley Wood than any other part of Solihull – with 14
attacks on buses reported in the Moorend Avenue area.
• 16 per cent of crimes in the Chelmsley Town Partnership Plus area are classed as domestic violence offences.
• 15 per cent of burglaries reported in Solihull are carried out within this zone.
Councillor Chris Williams (Green,Chelmsley Wood) said: “Chelmsley Wood has a busy shopping centre and so naturally has more potential for crime and much is committed by people from outside Chelmsley Wood.
“But that’s not the only area or crime. We do have real problems with off road motorbikes being used
antisocially that the police don’t seem to be able to get a grip on.
“With the severe Government cuts to the police we are losing yet more police officers, which is definitely going to mean a crime rate higher than it would otherwise be.”

Solihull Council confirms gritting arrangements

COLD SNAP: The Chester Road, Castle Bromwich in the winter of 2010/11

THE Castle Bromwich councillor who heads-up Solihull Council’s transport and highways department has said he is confident that the authority is “fully prepared” for the winter.
Councillor Ted Richards confirmed today that 4,500 tonnes of road salt had been stockpiled in readiness for bad weather.
Gritting crews will be on stand-by 24/7 between now and March, with plans in place to keep nine main routes through the borough moving.
A particularly mild winter last year meant that crews were little tested, although the council will be mindful of the problems that more severe weather can cause.
In 2010-11, many parts of the country were caught completely off guard by heavy snowfall and plummeting temperatures – which led to a chronic salt shortage. The Met Office would later confirm that it had been the coldest December since records began.
Ever since then local authorities, including Solihull, have ensured they are ready for the worst.
Councillor Richards said: “We are confident we have enough [salt] to see us through the next few months.
“During recent winters our staff have done a superb job gritting our roads and keeping our salt supply plentiful – I have no doubts that they will yet again rise to the challenge this time around.”

Inside the Salt Barn:

The first thing that springs to mind when you stare up at the salt piles is that you definitely wouldn’t want this stuff sprinkled on your chips.
It’s coarse and brown, more like sick bucket sand than the fine white flakes that you’d have on your dinner.
But of course, the salt stored at Solihull’s depot (pictured right) isn’t intended for emergency seasoning, rather it’s the secret to keeping local roads clear in the event of ice and snow.
During my time in local newspapers I paid several visits to Moat Lane, where the borough council co-ordinates its response to wintry weather.
The salt is important, but just as vital is knowing when to use it. For this councils rely on up-to-the-minute forecasts to predict if they'll need to head out to treat the roads.
The problem is that gritting is one of those services where councillors can’t please everyone. 4,500 tonnes might be the equivalent in weight to 900 African elephants, but there are over 1,000km of road in Solihull - with the natural priority being main arterial routes.
This inevitably poses a problem in somewhere like North Solihull, with so many winding side streets.
The key for the council - who are perhaps aware they'll always come in for some criticism during a spell of wintry weather - is to make sure that once you're onto the main roads the conditions are as safe as possible,

Major roadworks hit by further delays.

ROADWORKS which have caused chaos on one of the main routes into North Solihull have been hit by further delays.
Birmingham City Council admitted last week that the £11million scheme to widen the Chester Road is to continue until Christmas, and that some elements might not be completed until 2016.
Drivers who have been contending with jams for over a year were left seething by the news that the project’s completion date has been pushed back for a third time.
When contractors started work on the site in June last year, the council had said the project would be finished by the following July. They then revised their estimate to October and, with that now behind us, it has been confirmed that the schedule has been put back yet again.
The latest admission that some of the work may drag on into the New Year will mean that the project has lasted over six months longer than originally suggested.
And it follows farcical scenes last Thursday, when a road was resurfaced overnight only for the tarmac not to have dried in time for the morning rush hour – resulting in hour-long tailbacks.
The No 71 bus, one of the main services through Chelmsley town centre, was among a number of routes affected by the congestion.
Many road-users have taken to social media to condemn the way the authorities have handled the situation.
Simon Hague said: “The Spitfire Island roadworks are an absolute joke, taking far too long and days go by with seemingly nothing happening.”
Another irate motorist tweeted the council direct, asking if the scheme would be completed “before the turn of the next ice age.”
A council spokesman pledged that the “bulk of the work” would be finished before the festive break, blaming the repeated delays on complications moving utilities.

New edition of Other Side of Solihull out now

THE latest edition of Other Side of Solihull's digital newspaper is now available.
You can read the new issue here. And don't forget to email us with your ideas and stories for the final edition of 2015, which will be out in early December.

Details confirmed for Chelmsley Wood fireworks

REMEMBER, remember... that Chelmsley Wood Town Council's annual fireworks display is almost upon us.
The event will take place at the Berwicks Lane playing fields on Saturday (November 7).

Gates open at 6pm, with the display starting at 7pm.

And remember if you're planning to celebrate Guy Fawkes Night at home, you should always follow the fireworks code.

Martyn Scott, from West Midlands Ambulance Service, warned that dangerous behaviour can lead to life-changing injuries. Last year, paramedics were called to a number of incidents around the region.

"In most cases we know that they could have so easily been avoided by simply using common sense," said Mr Scott.

"It appears that people don’t realise they are holding an explosive device in their hands when they light a firework; it is always alarming when people are surprised that they get injured."

Editor's FAQ (No 1) - Why don't you print any good news?

ONE thing I realised during my seven years working in local newspapers is that journalism remains something of a mystery to the public at large.

There are three or four questions that I can guarantee every weekly reporter in the country gets asked at least a couple of times a week. 

Personally I've always felt that the local press in particular should try and shed more of a light on its operations, because the better readers understand how their local title works, the more they feel it is their title.

With this in mind, I thought I'd start a semi-regular series of articles about the news-gathering process. Now admittedly the workings of a full-blooded newspaper and a local news blog are quite different, though many of the same principles apply. 

I'll start by answering one of the most common questions-cum-complaints of them all.

Why don't you print any good news?

Local journalists regularly get accused of having an unhealthy pre-occupation with bad news, filling papers with tales of robbery, road accidents and ill health. The argument goes that good news is pushed aside or ignored in favour of controversy.
This criticism was always particularly common in North Solihull, with many residents feeling that the local press tended to dwell on the difficulties facing the area to the exclusion of the good work being done.
So, is the criticism justified? In part perhaps. There are certainly local papers who lack either the resources or imagination to do much more than repackage police and ambulance service press releases. Only last week I saw one weekly which had dutifully packed three court stories and a road traffic accident on one page near the front. Also to blame are those regional dailies who run a few too many front pages about fatal crashes. Death - some news desks believe - trumps everything.
I was lucky to train under an editor who put genuine store in light and shade. He very much drilled into us reporters the importance of including a real mix of stories on every page. A row over back garden development would rub shoulders with a charity marathon run. The story of a charity being burgled could keep company with a Diamond Wedding anniversary.
The problem is of course that bad stories tend to invoke the strongest response and linger in the memory rather longer, which is why even the papers who try and strike a balance are often accused of wallowing in misery.
That said, just because news is bad doesn't mean it's not relevant. I have to confess that I've always been wary of so-called good news publications, which try to make a virtue out of only carrying positive stories. The problem is that they're no more an accurate record of the local area than the paper packed with police mug shots. This "all's well" standpoint can, at times, be dangerously misleading.
Take the various council-published magazines which proliferate across Britain. While they may contain plenty of useful information for residents, the fact is that they make everything from a multi-million pound cost cutting programme to a highly unpopular development sound entirely beyond reproach. Here you need the journalist to look beyond the press release to the figures hidden away in council agendas and scrutiny boards. This is not reporters pursuing bad news for the sake of it, rather an attempt to highlight consequences or concerns that local authorities are going to be less than keen to advertise.
Similarly there is a legitimate place for crime-reporting in any publication. Justice should be seen to be done at the courts, while public appeals can help to catch culprits and raise the awareness which helps others to avoid becoming victims.
It is perhaps in the end a question of why you are running a story as what it's actually about.