Birmingham Labour’s rushed consultation on introducing car parking charges at Sutton Park, Lickey Hills, and Sheldon Country Park has sparked growing concern across the city. The consultation process, open during peak holiday season for only 4 weeks - until 29th August – proposes the installation of pay-and-display machines and additional traffic restrictions around the parks. This goes against the Council’s own consultation best practice, which states public consultations should take place over a longer period, and not be held during the holiday season.
Campaigners have also raised alarm at several initial errors with the consultation portal. Not only were duplicate questions hosted on one consultation page, but several were missing from others. This led to the pages being taken down today – Tuesday, the 5th of August – and reuploaded. This raises the question of whether those responses to consultation, as initially formatted, will have been saved, or have those residents' views now been lost?
To ensure all residents' views can be captured and improve compliance of this consultation with best practice, Birmingham Local Conservatives are calling for this consultation to be extended from 4 weeks to 12, operating into November, and with greater public awareness.
Residents can respond to the current consultation at www.Birminghambeheard.org.uk, pick up a paper form from visitor centres, or email the corresponding team to register for each park's public consultation event.
[email protected] 26th August, 6–8 pm.
[email protected] 21st August 6 pm to 7:30 pm
[email protected] 19th August 6 pm to 7:30 pm
Cllr David Pears (Con, Sutton Trinity) said:
The whole consultation process feels like a stitch-up. Residents aren't being given proper notice of this consultation, and the little communication from the Labour Administration with the public has been deliberately obtuse. With sufficient notice, this park consultation must be extended to a full 12 weeks.
Notices have been nailed to trees with barely any promotion, and there’s been no serious attempt to address the risk of traffic being pushed into residential streets. Residents living near the park are likely to face increased congestion and parking problems, and yet there’s a total lack of clarity about how that will be handled.
I urge everyone who cares about keeping access to our parks free to respond to the consultation before the 29th of August. Whether you fill in the online form, visit the visitor centre for a paper form, or email — please make your voice heard!
Cllr Adrian Delaney added:
Birmingham City Council are rushing through this consultation during a holiday period, where they know people are less likely to respond. The issues around communication, adequate time and advertising the consultation mean the only right and responsible thing for the Council to do would be to extend the consultation period into November. Enough is enough. Labour may ignore the views of their councillors when making decisions, but they can not ignore the Birmingham public.
