Big City Plan public consultation – who’s in? asks Stef Lewandowski, saying if they’ve asked for consultation, we should give them consultation! ‘There are some very smart and opinionated people in this city, and I think that getting us together to pool our thinking would be amazing. And with something as easy to understand as “What do you want Birmingham in 25 years to be like?” and huge issues like sustainability, transport, fuel crisis, energy, food, population, technology, communications, education, where we live, what we want from our public spaces, culture, creativity and lots more to consider this feels like one for the bloggers to really get our teeth into.’ Go on, give him your two bits’ worth and then some.
Pete Ashton has already answered Stef’s call to arms loud and clear with his Big City Plan idea: Painted buildings in Digbeth:
‘Digbeth, in the Big City Plan, is the “creative quarter”. The problem is a lot of this creativity goes on in offices and studios and, even with the galleries, isn’t visible from the outside. There isn’t an immediate visual hit that tells you “this is where the artists be at”. So my idea is to get 20 artists to decorate 20 buildings from top to bottom in whatever way they see fit. That would make the area itself a destination and feed into the creative activity that’s going on there.’
I second that one.
The draft conservation strategy for Digbeth is very much against murals or the painting of buildings. In fact it seems to imply that all murals including the one on the FOE gable end and the painted elevations of the Custard Factory should be scrubbed back to the brickwork. This not yet City Council policy but if it is not ammended at this stage it could put paid to a lot of interesting developmnets in the area.
There is still time to comment go to the City Council Website click on environment/planning: then click on building conservation: then strategies and you will find the Digbeth Conservation Strategy