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Paul Dale

Paul Dale

26,000 Birmingham City Council workers told their jobs are on the line

ALMOST 26,000 workers at Birmingham City Council have been put under threat of possible redundancy.Read

Taxi drivers in Birmingham described as grumpy and surly

TAXI drivers in Birmingham are regarded as grumpy and surly by some passengers, a council survey has found.Read

Taxi alcohol advertising ban could be lifted in Birmingham

A BAN preventing alcohol from being advertised on the side of Birmingham taxis, introduced following pressure from Muslim cabbies, could be lifted.Read

Hemming demands answers over Tesco's plans for Yardley site

AN MP is demanding to know why a Tesco superstore in Birmingham is yet to be built months after the firm said work would begin.Read

40 Birmingham community libraries face uncertain future

THE future of Birmingham’s 40 community libraries is in the melting pot after city council bosses ordered a value-for- money review.Read

City's parks are a war zone: leisure chief

SOME of Birmingham’s 400 parks and open spaces are so ravaged by graffiti and vandalism they look like ‘war zones’, the politician in charge of the city’s leisure facilities has said.Read

Marketing Birmingham given £18m to make city more popular

The organisation responsible for promoting Birmingham at home and abroad has been awarded an £18 million funding package to make the city more popular.Read

No knee jerk cuts pledge says Birmingham City Council leader

BIRMINGHAM faces savage Government spending cuts but must not engage in the “knee-jerk” slashing of essential services, city council leader Mike Whitby has warned.Read

Birmingham City Council workers have their say on leadership

A survey found that fewer than a fifth of staff believed in Mr Hughes and his senior management team, while a third had no confidence in him at all. Three-quarters accepted the need to save money by modernising ways of working, but only 17 per cent believed that Mr Hughes and his management team were the right people to bring about radical change. By contrast, the average response for local council surveys is a 41 per cent confidence rating for the chief executive and top directors. The workplace survey by MORI may have been coloured by increasingly doom-laden pronouncements by Mr Hughes, who recently warned the council must think the unthinkable when it came to making £230 million savings and added that no job could be regarded as safe.Read

Three Birmingham City Council bosses in battle for one job

THREE of Birmingham City Council’s highest-paid bosses are fighting against each other to save their jobs in a major staffing shake-up.Read

Birmingham parks are a war zone - leisure chief

SOME of Birmingham’s 400 parks and open spaces are so ravaged by graffiti and vandalism that they represent “war zones”, the politician in charge of the city’s leisure facilities has declared.Read

Be Active project could fall victim to council cuts

A FREE gym membership scheme which has helped thousands of Brummies to get fit could be the latest victim of spending cuts.Read

Birmingham's Olympic Swimming pool budget to be slashed

A £58 MILLION leisure centre containing Birmingham’s only Olympic-size swimming pool is being drastically scaled down to save money.Read

40 Birmingham community libraries face uncertain future

THE future of Birmingham’s 40 community libraries is in the melting pot after city council bosses ordered a value for money review.Read

Birmingham City Council spends £187m on new library - and cuts book fund

CASH-STRAPPED Birmingham City Council has cut its book-buying fund – as it spends £187 million on a showpiece library.Read

Approval for academy schools planned for Birmingham

SIX out of seven academy schools planned for Birmingham have been given government approval.Read

Morrisons plan for Five Ways kicked out

A MOVE by Morrisons to open close to Birmingham city centre has been dashed after planners slammed a proposed superstore .Read

Four star hotel for Birmingham rail link

HIGH speed rail hasn’t reached Birmingham yet, but when 250 mph bullet trains eventually pull into the city centre passengers will have the comforts of a four-star hotel an easy stroll away.Read

BOSSES from Birmingham’s failing children’s social services department were given a dressing down by a Government Minister and told: “Make immediate improvements, and no more excuses”.

The confrontation took place when two leading city councillors met Education Minister Tim Loughton to talk about an Ofsted report that branded care for children in the city at risk of physical and sexual abuse as inadequate and critically deficient.Read

Proposed superstore in Birmingham called a 'monstrosity'

AN APPLICATION by retail giant Morrisons to build a superstore on the edge of Birmingham city centre has caused a storm of protest.Read

Author Profile

Paul Dale has been writing about local government in the West Midlands for more than 20 years. The Post's public affairs editor, he is a previous political editor of the Coventry Evening Telegraph and Local Government Correspondent of the Oxford Mail.