Dear readers — today's story is The Dispatch's bread-and-butter: holding the council to account and reporting on actions that too often go under the radar in our busy personal lives. In short, Birmingham City Council, strapped for cash and under the directives of Whitehall commissioners has decided it needs to sell-off public assests to balance the books. The problem is that some councillors, especially those who are experiencing sell-offs in their backyards, disagree with this move. More in today's Wednesday read.
Christmas is nigh and we’re feeling festive at The Dispatch. It’s been a fantastic, hectic year, so what better way to celebrate than bringing our community together in a beloved local bar and getting them to duke it out for a £100 cash prize?
That’s right; on 18 December, The Dispatch is going to be hosting its very own Christmas quiz! We’ll be taking over the Jewellery Quarter’s Temper and Brown, for an evening of testing your knowledge on everything from music, history, pop culture and — of course — Birmingham.
Join us from 7.30pm on 18 December for some classic Christmas celebrations.
James Cross knows all too well the bleak reality of opposing council plans. For more than a year, he led a campaign to save Harborne Day Centre, where his uncle had been going for 45 years, providing vital respite for his mum’s caring duties. Cross ended up face-to-face with the Council’s former lead commissioner, Max Caller, in court after the campaigners applied for a judicial review over proposed closures of day centres across Birmingham.
"I've seen the dirtiness the council plays and the absolute disregard for consultation with people," Cross, tells The Dispatch, recalling how uncomfortable Caller looked in court, the day before he announced his retirement from the commissioner post this summer.
Ultimately, attempts to save the day centres were in vain. But when Harborne Day Centre closed down in March 2025, Cross decided to run for councillor at next year’s election. “That was the main catalyst for wanting to get involved in politics,” says Cross, who currently works as a civil engineer, “because it was pretty heartbreaking that day.”
In the meantime, Cross will be going up against the council once again, as the recently-elected chair of Friends of Queen’s Park, who oppose the planned sell-off of a part of the 10-acre green space in Harborne. They’re currently fighting to save the former bowling pavilion, the latest asset that could be flogged-off by Birmingham City Council in a rush to raise cash.
"Our proposal has the potential to be pretty transformational for the park and surrounding area,” says Cross. He’s keen to highlight the group’s idea to turn the area into a community hub and cafe offering various sessions to support the local community. “But [the problem is] getting [the council] to buy into the vision.”
More than 1,000 council buildings and plots of land have been sold since Birmingham declared itself bankrupt two years ago. But now, the decision to dispose of 32 more assets, including the former bowling pavilion in Queen's Park and other green spaces, has been challenged by councillors who are fiercely critical about the lack of consultation with locals on what assets to protect from sale.
A scathing letter by the Save Birmingham Campaign was published last month. This letter accused the council of breaking its own promises of fairness, transparency and partnership on community asset disposals. The Save Birmingham Campaign are also calling for a reset of the council’s approach.
‘The consultation was woeful’
