‘Woeful consultation’ and ‘broken promises’ over council asset sales

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.

Grab your ticket

Brum in Brief:

🗳️ Birmingham city council’s (BCC) Allens Cross councillor, Jack Deakin, resigned from his post on Tuesday. Deakin’s council profile has been taken down and his Twitter profile now lists him as a ‘former councillor.’ He resigned close enough to the next council election that a by-election will not be called for his ward: leaving his constituents unrepresented for another five months. Although, many residents have complained they haven’t been de facto represented for years. As previously reported by The Dispatch, Deakin has been absent from Birmingham for more than a year and is reportedly living in Leeds. In May 2025, BCC’s Conservative group registered a complaint against Deakin with the standard’s committee, branding him a “ghost councillor.”

Jack Deakin has been contacted for comment. 

⚽ Labour’s independent anti-semitism advisor, Lord Mann, has expressed concern about the evidence presented by West Midlands Police (WMP) to Birmingham City Council’s Safety Advisory Group (SAG). Mann told the parliamentary Home Affairs committee scrutinising the WMP that he had “struggled” with “inaccuracy” in the WMP’s intelligence. Mann claimed there were multiple inaccuracies in the WMP’s reporting, including claims around the pulling down of Palestinian flags, the extent of attacks against Dutch taxi drivers, and the mentioning of a non-existent match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and West Ham. “We have taken a careful approach,” WMP Chief Constable Craig Guildford has assured the committee. (BBC). 

🏛️ Birmingham City Council’s Whitehall appointed commissioners set to stay past May 2026 council election. (Birmingham Mail). 

🏫 Dudley and Stourbridge schools to go on strike. (Express and Star). 

💣 Historic “explosive device” found and detonated at Walton Hall, Warwickshire. (Coventry Telegraph). 

🏘️ Residents in Druid’s Heath, which is due to be redeveloped, are placing ‘not for sale’ signs in front of their dwellings. (BBC). 

Correction: We have changed the copy to reflect that Lord Mann "claimed" multiple inaccuracies in the WMP report.

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’