Tornado Residents

Notes of a Meeting held at Moseley CDT at 7:45p.m.on 9th August 2005

Subject: Discussion on issues by residents affected by the Tornado

Present: Ted Ryan (Chair 0797 440 7015 ted_ryan22@… )
Pauline Roche (Secretary pauline_a_roche@… )
Approximately 50 residents
Moseley and King’s Heath Councillors (notes recorded by Cllr Henley)

Chair’s introduction
A number of problems are obvious:

• Lack of effective communication
• Various bodies talking ‘on behalf of the affected area’ but not representative
• Confusion on which of three Forums is dealing with the issues in Queenswood, Woodstock, Birchwood and Alder.

Councillors are requested not to speak but to listen to residents.

Anne Cummins, Woodstock – problem of poor communication, particularly for those who work. Have to run around to find information because Council leaflets are not delivered. Find out things by word of mouth. Jamie, Alder Road said use of forwarding addresses for those not back in their homes is no use because mail is taking four or more days to reach them.

Mr Hussein said we needed a Residents Association to make as much noise as the Traders Association on Ladypool Road to make sure the Council takes notice.

Rob Birkett , Cadbury suggested that tonight’s action points should be noted and distributed around the communities.

Kerry Hilland, Alder raised the issue of the statement on the Council Tornado web page that the security presence was to be removed on Friday 12th. She was very concerned that her home was completely open, and still had her possessions in it. It had still not been cleaned of glass so removers could not go in. She was also concerned about the potential loss of the character of the Edwardian houses if insurers worked separately to repair each one using the lowest cost solutions,.

A suggestion was made on behalf of an architect that the opportunity be taken to repair the homes and upgrade them to ‘eco-homes’ with solar power and additional insulation.

John Newson, Alder said it would be best to have one roofing company repair them all with a uniform material.

Darren Adderley, Woodstock, said that nobody at the Tornado information centre could answer the question of whether tenants were legally obliged to pay rent on homes they could not live in.
Discussion on whether ‘Storm in a teacup’ was insulting or amusing choice of name. Later it was said that the drop-in facilities and the crèche for two hours a day were a godsend given the problems each family had to sort out.

Howard Boyd, Queenswood, gave a summary of the lunchtime meeting in Ladypool Road. There was a general complaint that the plan for a meeting had not been well communicated to residents. Two Council Officers attended, the points raised were:

• The Council is only meeting legal minimum requirements to make safe, not to make liveable
• Maps in hut show houses inspected and those considered dangerous
• Asbestos was a problem but the scale of it was not known
• Fences down were a security problem
• Security Guards originally did not all have IDs
• More skips are required so there is one in every road and the Council should continue clearing up glass and debris from public areas and gardens because it seemed to have stopped
• Park is devastated and children have nowhere to play
• City will become involved in regeneration to make area look better than it was before the Tornado
• Evening meetings will be arranged
• Council wants a questionnaire completed covering key points and addressing issues beyond the rebuilding phase

Richard Marsh, Woodstock, had no idea which Forum covers his home. Fran, Birchwood, suggested using the e-mail addresses collected tonight for quicker communication. Ted Ryan agreed to set up an e-mail circulation list.

Rowan said that all the Forums and the Councillors needed to work together. The park should have a sports and social centre with youth activities such as dj-ing and rap. Jo Hindley, Birchwood agreed because there were no places for the community in the area, that is why they ended up meeting in the CDT.

It was reported that the District Director Sparkbrook had said there would be no grants to uninsured families.

Dick Atkinson said that longer term he wanted to see the area improved, but right now he was worried about the 60% he thought were without insurance cover. He asked: what is the point of putting a roof on an insured home and not on the uninsured one next door? He urged the residents to state it was not acceptable to not help the uninsured. He pointed out that others in the City do not appreciate the nature of the disaster. Trading roads must be restored so business can re-start, residential roads must be ‘enveloped’ and all done by one builder economically as urban renewal had been done 15 or so years ago.

Sue Lancaster agreed and said she met a Council Officer involved in the ‘enveloping’ in tears when he saw the damage to their homes.

Rowan offered leaflets on Childhood trauma counselling.

It was agreed that because Moseley and District HA and Focus owned many of the most damaged homes they must be brought into meetings on the regeneration. In Alder the loss adjusters were not being helpful, making excuses why the houses should not be restored to original condition.

In Woodstock the security situation was maddening. There are guards in the day but not at night. They hassle residents but let through tourists who want to photograph the houses. Mr Adderly is staying in his unsafe house to make sure it isn’t burgled. The issue of vandalism, looting and arson were all serious concerns wherever houses were empty and there were no fences remaining.

Dick Atkinson on behalf of Balsall Heath Forum suggested that :

• Small action group of Police, Council and Wardens should meet to decide security arrangements
• Traders meeting with Police, insurers, and ABI should be repeated for residents
• Residents need to lobby for their needs to be noticed and then satisfied
• Monkey Business party in the park on 20 Aug should be used for show of spirit and for consultation of residents by Council.

Cllr Mullaney explained that the Councillors had arranged for a clean up of the broken glass and debris from Balsall Heath park so that the summer play scheme could go ahead. The sports camp for one week might be extended if successful. He explained that Clive Dutton will be in charge as Head of Regeneration and that Roger Godsiff and Lynne Jones need to campaign for Government cash above the Bellwin formula because the repair costs were going to be above £10M. Ladypool school would be around £3M.

Ted Ryan said Jan Rowley from Planning and Venetta Johnson the Sparkbrook District Director were working together on repairs and regeneration.

Actions agreed were: