July 2026 Newsletter
Welcome to the July edition of the Better Streets for Birmingham newsletter. It has been a while since our last one so we would like to update you on all that has happened. So, apologies for its length, we should be back to a smaller newsletter next month.
3 things to do
Sign the petition demanding action on illegally noisy cars in the city
Join our Circle the City ride, 6pm Friday 7th August at Hippodrome Square.
Join the committee!
News
Birmingham City Council
We have had local elections and a new city council is in place. We hope that the make-up of the new council will provide BSFB with an opportunity to progress our aims. One exciting development was the election of our very own Kevin Carmody (previous committee member) as Green Party councillor for Harborne.
Key new roles include Councillor Rob Grant, Cabinet Member for Transport, and Cllr Izzy Knowles, Deputy Cabinet Member for Transport.
We have contacted all councillors to offer to meet and discuss our aims and how the council can implement them. With so many new councillors and Cabinet Members getting up to speed with their roles, this is understandably going slowly. We intend to hammer home that they only have two to three years to get active travel measures in, before fear of the ballot box will increase councillor resistance to schemes.
Organisation news
BSFB is now a community interest company (CIC). There has been a change in directors and new committee members have joined. Our new co-chairs are Paul Manzotti and Florence Cadge.
Our annual supporter meeting was held on 19 May 2026. This was a hybrid in-person and online meeting. Thank you to those who attended. There was a useful discussion about improving the communication between the committee and attendees of the general monthly meetup. This is something to work on in the coming months.
The committee has had a larger turnover than usual of members this year. We’re very much a group of volunteers, so are grateful for any time people can spare to help with the fight for safer streets in our city, and completely understand when their lives have to take priority. So, a heartfelt thank you to all those who have served on the committee over the last year, your work is greatly appreciated.
New members have joined but there are still vacancies. It would be great to fill the remaining roles as it will make us a more effective organisation. We are looking for enthusiastic supporters who can spare a bit of time each month. Obviously, the more committee members we have, the more we can spread the work around, reducing the time people need to spend.
If you would like to have a chat about any of the roles please email: hello@betterstreetsforbirmingham.org.
All members are volunteers; please bear with the new committee members as handover takes place, people settle into roles and we review the strategy for the coming year.
We were successfully awarded a grant from the Barrow Cadbury Trust which will enable us to recruit to 2 part time paid roles to help with our mission.
While we are still finalising the job packs with full information, a summary of the 2 part-time roles is as follows:
- Administrator, freelance basis, 6 hours per week, worked flexibly to meet organisational needs
- Community Organiser, freelance basis, 45 days over the duration of the 2 year project, worked flexibly to meet community needs and project milestones
We welcome initial interest in these roles and will forward further information to interested parties in due course, please contact: hello@betterstreetsforbirmingham.org
Please look out for the job packs, and help us spread the word to potential candidates!
We hope these roles will support BSfB to expand our reach across the city and to be more effective in our campaigning.
Consultations
The Safer School Journeys programme was launched by the City Council at the end of last year. Consultations for the first 6 schools selected have recently been launched. These are: Colebourne Primary, Broadmeadow Junior School, The Olive School, Ninestiles Academy, Alston Primary and Harborne Primary (annex). The closing date for responses is 24 July 2026, although the date for Harborne Primary has been extended to 14 August 2026. As usual we will provide a response on behalf of Better Streets for Birmingham. We encourage you all to have a look and respond, particularly if you have knowledge of the areas.
Midlands Rail Hub have a consultation on proposed improvements to Moor Street Station that are necessary to restore 6 trains per hour on the Cross-city line, and re-route the Camp Hill line to Moor Street Station and allow it to also increase the service frequency. Whilst we are fully on-board with the aims of the scheme, we are concerned that the current design proposes closing The Warehouse in Digbeth. More information here.
Other activities
We have been out and about explaining what BSfB is campaigning for and to gather further support for our cause. We now have just under 1000 signed-up supporters. We hope that you will be able to talk to friends and family about our work and encourage them to support us too. They can join us to contribute to the campaign and receive the newsletter. It would be fantastic to get our supporter numbers above 1000!
We were at the Weoley Castle Earth Day Activities, Clean Air Activities at the Council House, and CocoMad festival running Cargo Bike activities with the Bike Foundry.
In collaboration with Mums for Lungs and the Birmingham Health Air Coalition, we visited schools and community centres to talk to parents and carers about clean air and road safety. These have been well received. It is great to see how much our younger generation knows about the issues and we hope to reach their parents and carers.
On 30th June members of the Committee participated in the Vision Zero conference at Millenium Point organised by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA). Opened by Richard Parker, West Midlands Mayor, it included a screening of Sarah Chaundler’s very powerful award-winning documentary film “City of Cars”. Beccy Marston (the WMCA Active Travel Commissioner) and Mat McDonald (past chair of BSfB and current Road Safety Commissioner), launched their Kids Streets programme. Details of the pilot scheme are now online. You can sign up for email updates from the Walk Wheel Cycle Trust.
Long-time member and new committee member, Gareth Hooper, set up an online petition demanding action on noisy vehicles in Birmingham. It has nearly 2000 signatures, and Councillor Izzy Knowles will be presenting it to the council.
New Co-chair Paul has updated his website tool for quickly putting together maps of possible active travel measures. Give it a go and get in touch with any feedback.
Former Brandwood & Kings Heath councillor, David Barker, is running a survey on the safety of the Pershore Road junctions with Fordhouse Lane and Lifford Lane, with the aim of petitioning the Stirchley councillor to use their ward fund to improve it.
One of our supporters has continued his annual pruning of one of the trees on the A38 cycle lane which really affects the visibility as the cycle lane goes past a busy bus stop. As the council doesn't prune until later in the year, the member considers it an unnecessary danger. I hope you agree that this action drastically improves the visibility there!
The road safety emergency continues
1 August 2026 marks the second anniversary of the declaration of Birmingham’s Road Safety Emergency. We plan to mark this anniversary and ask the new councillors who represent us to increase their efforts to reduce road harm on Friday 4th September at 5pm outside the Council House. Further details to follow in the coming weeks but if any supporter would like to help with the organisation of this, please get in touch if you are able to help practically or with ideas and resources.
In addition, City of Cars will be screened at Birmingham Council House before the Full Council meeting on 15 September.
City of Cars tells the story of the tragic death of Mayar Yahia and the immeasurable loss experienced by her family. The film was made to challenge the political and societal apathy around dangerous driving in Birmingham and to highlight the threat this poses in the city. The trailer for Sarah's City of Cars film is available to watch.
As filmmaker Sarah explains:
“I made this film because I was so concerned about what I was witnessing on Birmingham’s roads every day. In the film I speak to people who have lost loved ones in road traffic collisions and follow the campaigning activities of Better Streets for Birmingham.”
We encourage members to email their local councillors and urge them to attend the screening.
Things to read
Our members often share articles in our various WhatsApp groups, here are some of the more notable ones:
Could a country-wide 20mph speed happen?
The ever-increasing danger that is car-spreading.
Research released on how car usage can be actively reduced through interventions.
Making public transport fully accessible ‘could boost UK economy by £176bn’.
Using street trees to reduce vehicle speeds and their other benefits to society.
Things to do
6 to 8 general meetup - Monday 3 August 2026, 6pm
The Warehouse, Alison Street
Monthly meetup for city-wide Better Streets. Attendance at this regular monthly meet-up has been waning in recent months. We are hoping that there will be a more regular attendance of at least one committee member to the meetings going forward.
Circle the City - Friday 7th August
Join us on the first Friday of every month for a group ride around Birmingham leaving from Hippodrome Square, B5 4BN at 6pm. Meet people, learn new cycle routes and enjoy the fun and freedom of cycling safely in the city. All ages and all abilities are welcome. The more the merrier!
Upcoming events
Celebration of the new stations on the Camp Hill Line Saturday 18th July 11am-3pm outside St Mary’s Church, Moseley.
A thousand journeys to Highbury Saturday 20th September 11am -3pm in Highbury Park between Kings Heath Station and Highbury Hall.
Committee Membership
If you are passionate about the aims of BSFB and have some time to build on the success of BSFB, please consider joining the committee.
Current vacancies:
- Secretary - Manage committee meeting agendas, minutes and actions.
- Fundraising Lead - To maintain/grow donations at a rate that supports the costs of the organisation.
- Communications & Digital Engagement Lead - Manage our monthly email newsletter and social media presence. If this feels like too much for one person to do, we'd be open to splitting it into two roles.
- Website & Creative Design Lead - Maintain the website and produce designs for any literature we produce. Again, if you would like to volunteer for only one of these responsibilities, we'd be open to that.
Save the date - Friday 4th September - Birmingham Council House
Second anniversary of declaration of Road Safety Emergency. Please come and take part. Details to follow.
Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter and we hope to see you at the 6-8 meeting, Circle the City ride or at a summer event around the city.
