I fear the heat might be getting to Bobby Alden - leader of the Tory group. This cannot be a serious suggestion. It uses AI imagery that has badly hallucinated the civic centre. It forgets that he leads the third largest opposition group. It’s basically pissing into the wind to say *something*.

Drivers: "We shouldn't be enforcing traffic laws! We should be doing other things to reduce driver violence!" "You mean like slow streets?" "No." "You mean like bike lanes?" "No." "You mean like transit and walkable neighborhoods?" "No." "You mean like charging for parking?" "Hell no."

Wheeeeeee! #cargobike

Is anyone aware of any research around media narrative when reporting the planning, building and bedding in of new public transport and active travel infrastructure? My assumption is it’s mostly engagement farming, so feeds on anger.

Presumably Rosewell will remember her current experience of divvying up our £2.4bn multi-year settlement and found out that you can buy just a micron more than piss all mass transit projects considering the other competing priorities.

We’ve written to Birmingham’s group leaders as they form a new administration, calling on them to simplify the transport cabinet brief into a Cabinet Member for Healthy Streets. It’s clear that ‘Environment and Transport’ doesn’t allow for the attention that transforming our streets requires.

Tonight is Better Streets’ annual meeting where I had hoped to read this statement, however was admitted to hospital on Sunday so a post will have to do. Thank you to all who is part of and has supported @betterstreetsforbirmingham.org - it means so much. My next step is some important research!

NEW Streets Ahead EPISODE! 🚨 Local Elections: What do they mean for active travel? with @mrmjprice.bsky.social and @plaistovian.bsky.social shows.acast.com/streets-ahea...

NEW Streets Ahead EPISODE! 🚨 Local Elections: What do they mean for active travel? with @mrmjprice.bsky.social and @plaistovian.bsky.social shows.acast.com/streets-ahea... and of course, @adamtranter.bsky.social

How will the recent local election results affect active travel? @lauralaker.bsky.social and I have a go at explaining, with the help of guests @mrmjprice.bsky.social & @plaistovian.bsky.social.

Look mum, I’m in a Streets Ahead Podcast, discussing local elections, no overall control councils and combined authority board voting. 😅 (Recorded mere hours before news that Labour won’t enter the Birmingham coalition)

Phil blogs about a prototype tool he has been to allow users to explore the connections between the various bits of the Local Government Architecture Model he and others at GDS Local have been work... https://ift.tt/gudmnqs

This is the former Birmingham Labour Transport Cabinet member, responsible for declaring a “road safety emergency” and reducing 40mph urban main roads to 30mph, now immediately calling for his *own* policy to be reviewed. Deeply unserious and, worse, actually dangerous.

Here we have it, clear cut data on why people vote Reform. No hire bikes = Reform votes! If Mayor Richard Parker had widened the Lime Bikes contract so was Birmingham wide Reform would have no Birmingham Councillors! Starmer, Burnham, Polanski, Kemi, Greens and Labour can defeat Reform with 🍋‍🟩🚲🍋‍🟩🚲🍋‍🟩🚲🍋‍🟩🚲

Needing to take my cargo bike back to the shop for repair. Google cycling directions are so cooked that I've just had to build my own cycle route using quietways that I know to exist but Google does not acknowledge.

Riding bikes is 10X more important than electric cars for reaching net-zero cities. And that’s just the climate emissions. Doesn’t include the massive public & personal cost difference, the air & noise pollution difference, the massive space difference, etc, etc…Via @theconversation.bsky.social

Someone once told me that Birmingham always manages to shoot itself in both feet. I suspect this will tank support in their remaining areas.

We're now a week on from the election count and BCC still haven't managed to get people's emails up. Councillors are just about showing correctly on the public directory and committee system. 🧐

Terrible news. Ju really cared about the quality of the food she was serving and was lovely to us every time we went there. 😔

Prospective coalition partners waiting on the Labour NEC to appoint a Birmingham group leader so they can get something together by the 19th May.

This is the trackbed that should have been the HS1-HS2 link, NOW IS OUR CHANCE.

New Labour group leader to be in place by the weekend. It's a good job that coalition negotiations aren't going on, err, now then, with an aim to formally approving the administration at Full Council a week today?

Sad trombone 🪊

Before there were Bunch Bikes there were... London, circa 1926

Further to this, they've sort of half-reshuffled the Councillor index on the website. So now it's all the old councillors but in the party that succeeded them (if not themselves). Lots of incredibly left wing people in the Reform UK category: www.birmingham.gov.uk/councillors/...

Normalise having these sorts of activations around public transport stations regardless of whether it's new or old.

Brits will do anything to save their high streets but use them

Waterloo Street is a lovely demonstration that paint isn’t infrastructure. Blue badges and the rich now occupy this new (yes, despite the state of the tarmac it is new) contraflow cycle lane.

Elvis and Pickle are thoroughly distraught that they are not contributing to the listener numbers for Radio 6.

Thoughts and prayers to the council officers having to navigate the underutilised and archaic councillor section of CMIS today.

I spent way too long this weekend correlating 81 census variables with local election results, so you don't have to. Enjoy! datawrapper.dwcdn.net/QQQ3D/7/

In not even bothering, they've opened themselves up to a one-line attack for the next four years: You didn't have the guts to lead the city in 2026, why should the public ever trust you?

It's quite BCC that they left to go home over the weekend without updating ward election result pages and didn't organise any cover over the weekend to finish things off.

Time for a green-led pragmatic coalition of hope. 💚🧡❤️💜

Forgot to point out at the time but just thinking about the Birmingham Tory manifesto. Avoiding building on greenfield while suggesting that Smithfield should have density reduced to family townhouses with gardens. Returning HMOs to family use while objecting to purpose built student accommodation.

It’s now time for each party to brush their ego aside and work together as a progressive alliance to save our city from Reform.

Congratulations to @skinofstars.bsky.social!

The four vehemently pro candidates in the Kings Heath & Moseley LTN area have been elected. Despite a lot of fence-sitting and anti- noise.

Nice. Load in schedules for everything: gully clearing, grass cutting, road sweeping, tree pruning, bin emptying, bus stop cleaning. I can only imagine how much time could be saved, and there'd be confidence that councils do proactive maintenance.

That random car park just off Queen Elizabeth Island? It's looking more and more like someone took some bollards out and is operating an illegal car park on council land.

I’ve had a day of introspection: a five-part ultrasound and one of the most unpleasant procedures I’ve experienced to date: a camera crew to my bladder 😵‍💫. Found some stuff out. Not horrendous stuff. The scans will continue until diagnosis specificity improves. 👀

My hopefully outgoing councillor didn’t like a final fact check under his post in the local Facebook group. 😔

Got 35 minutes before you head to the ballot box?

Nice post from the MoJ. mojdigital.blog.gov.uk/2026/05/06/t...

Bizarre

This article proves that Birmingham didn’t need to bid for millions in Levelling Up Fund cash to renovate a private asset. The best public investment would be to prioritise pedestrians and local connectivity, while getting the Prices Square-Bell Lane development moving.

The UK House of Commons Library has published a collection of new briefings on recognising misinformation, evaluation of sources, verifying images and sources, working with AI and spotting AI-generating text commonslibrary.parliament.uk/topic/home-a... Useful resources, not just for MPs and bampots

I have a paper passport form in front of me. I need to change my name at point of renewal. I’m already stumped in section 1. My circumstances are that I’m both renewing my passport and changing my name, and I might as well update my photo given it’s been almost a decade. I want to cross three boxes!

Q61 - Park Central to Selly Oak via Edgbaston. £1 with LimePrime. A bit wonky trying to prove I was parked not on a footpath - this is the rack albeit beautifully paved.

One such example of policy being abandoned or timidly implemented is the local councillor and cabinet member stepping back from an important project to pedestrianise a section of surplus carriageway, to create a safe environment for people. Mayar’s dad was in the audience of the hustings.