Big City Plan misses the bus and the point
Written by Nicky Getgood on Monday, January 26th, 2009 ( 8 responses )
Tags: bigcitybus, bigcityplan, birminghamcitycouncil, mikewhitby
A little while a go I wrote a post encouraging all Digbeth/Highgate locals to join the Big City Plan bus at its scheduled Highgate stops on Weds 14 Jan. I also emailed the entire Digbeth Residents’ Association urging them to go. I thought it was important that residents made their voices heard in a consultation which I feel has so far done a pretty poor job of engaging and gathering public opinion.
The following day I was dismayed to receive a couple of emails from members of the Residents’ Association wondering where the bus was – they had gone to meet it and it was not there.
It took several emails and chasing-type messages to get a response from Birmingham City Council which stated:
The schedule was updated on the website at noon on Tuesday 13th to the venues listed below, following advice from the Beyond Midnight bus team, whose guidance we relied upon as to the venues and sites to use in each area. The reason for using the bus was that it had the flexibility to move to an area where there would be more people if the bus arrived at a venue and found there were no people there, or if there was intelligence to suggest that a venue would prove to be too quiet. I asked for the website to be updated as soon as I found out that a change was planned.
Okay, so my bad that I didn’t double check the website the day before the scheduled arrangement. Once they had announced they would be in a certain place at a certain time, I assumed they would stick to that.
So was it cancelled because ‘there was intelligence to suggest a venue would prove to be too quiet?’ Or was it because, as Paul Dale of the Birmingham Post announced, Council Leader Mike Whitby commandeered it for a photoshoot in Aston?
If it’s the latter I’ll be extremely disappointed. To feel a photoshoot is more important than engaging local people in a consultation would suggest you’re perhaps not that bothered about gathering the public opinion you profess to care about. Or, as Michael Grimes more eloquently put it:
…the clearest signal yet that those at the top of Birmingham City Council have no interest in what their citizens have to say about this Big City Plan.
I’m sorry if I sound a little angry, but I am. I felt pretty bad that people went to something after I encouraged them to go and ended up having a wasted journey. If this is the reason why I’ll be pretty upset. Not because the people concerned were very seriously put out but because of the lack of care, respect or interest in them that that would infer. I can only hope there is another explanation, fingers crossed my Freedom of Information request will shed some light on it.
Comments:
on January 26th, 2009
This is bad enough but to have actually sent people there makes any anger you have beyond righteous. I’m not sure, though, that what you’re asking for comes under a FOI request. It might do but don’t be surprised if it gets rejected. Would also be worth contacting the BCC press office for a clarification. Maybe point out that you’re the third result in Google for “Digbeth” so pretty much the premier local news source and you ain’t gonna let this one lie.
on January 27th, 2009
Disgusting. You don’t advertise something and then pull out at the last minute. The myth of consultation – if it suits the powers that be more, then sod the people.
on January 28th, 2009
Hmmm. I’m not in the slightest bit surrpised that the Council chose to behave this way. The Big City Plan consultation exercise is piece of PR nonsense. When they implement the plan, they will point to the consultation process and claim that the plan has been “widely discussed” by the people of Birmingham. Not that they actually care what the people of Birmingham have to say or what they really think. If they did, they would have created a consultation process BEFORE they wrote their plan.
We, the people, are an irritation to our leaders. They think we don’t notice their crass and amateurish PR posturing. They are, as is os often the case with this sad b
on January 28th, 2009
Hmmm. I’m not in the slightest bit surrpised that the Council chose to behave this way. The Big City Plan consultation exercise is piece of PR nonsense. When they implement the plan – complete with expensive pomposity and more photo opportuniuties – they will point proudly to the consultation process. They will claim that the plan has been “widely discussed” by the people of Birmingham. Not that they actually care what the people of Birmingham have to say or what they really think. If they did, they would have created a consultation process that took place BEFORE they wrote their plan.
Mike Whitby’s willingness to disrupt even this sham con-trick of a consultation programme simply to take part in yet another photo shoot is further proof – if any were needed – that we, the people, are nothing more than an irritation to our so-called leaders.
If you do make any comment on the Big City Plan, remember. It’s their city, it’s their plan, it’s their big ideads on which you are commenting. Our role is to be the statistics that they use to play their games.
Look out for the press release that trumpets “x,000 people contribute to Big City Plan discussion” (or words to that efect). What you won’t see is the subhead “And we haven’t listened to a single word.”
on January 28th, 2009
@peteashton – I emailed the press office yesterday asking them to comment. So far I’ve not received a response, or a reply indicating when they might respond. I will, of course, keep you posted.
on March 1st, 2009
[...] Some felt it was more of a PR exercise than a genuine consultation and incidents such as missing the promised consultation bus didn’t help. People I spoke to felt alienated rather than engaged – a comment on Digbeth is [...]
on September 3rd, 2009
[...] bus from my neighbourhood for a photoshoot on the other side of town, I initially responded with righteous indignation. My emails and calls to the press office were met with a wall of silence until the fantastic [...]
on October 12th, 2009
[...] bus from my neighbourhood for a photoshoot on the other side of town, I initially responded with righteous indignation. My emails and calls to the press office were met with a wall of silence until the fantastic local [...]
What is your opinion?