Fly tipping is a scourge, and it is a crime! City of Wolverhampton Council has sharpened up its approach to this issue under Cllr Steve Evans.

Here are some stats that may inform you of the situation. As a Local Wednesfield North Councillor we are now getting regular up dates in arrears about the extent and seriousness of the incidents.

The Good News is that in the first week of January here in Wednesfield North

• There were no reports of fly tipping made in our Ward of Wednesfield North.
• Across the City there were however 9 Fixed Penalty Notices served
• ‘Shop a Tipper’ 2019 – Week commencing 7 January -6 Tip offs received.
• A vehicle has been seized for evidence relating to Fly Tipping and is being held.

Clearly, we are all hopeful that this approach will work and reduce this illegal activity, saving tax pounds and keeping our Wards and City in better shape.

Mental Health issues are a big concern right across the UK currently.

I was pleased to be told this week that the West Midlands largest bus company  will be joining other companies and organising support on a day when its employees will be encouraged to start and have a conversation about mental heath.

Well done National Express!

Finally after much negotiations and persuasion, we have a new toilet facility on the Bentley Bridge Retail Park! Now that is so very pleasing.

Bentley Bridge Shopping Park now has a Changing Places toilet, designed for use by people with a disability. The toilet, situated behind Next, is in the heart of the Wednesfield shopping area and is the sixth Changing Places facility to open in Wolverhampton.

Standard accessible toilets do not meet the needs of all people with a disability. Changing Places toilets provide extra equipment and space to enable people with profound and multiple learning disabilities, or physical disabilities such as spinal injuries, muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis, to use them safely and comfortably.

Each offers a height adjustable adult-sized changing bench and a tracking hoist or mobile hoist, as well as adequate space for the disabled person and up to two carers.

The Bentley Bridge facility was developed by Aviva Investors for the City of Wolverhampton Council and joins the other facilities located at the Civic Centre, Neil Dougherty Centre, Brickkiln Centre, Action for Independence and The Way Youth Zone.

Lara Weaver at Aviva Investors said: “The project at Bentley Bridge provides new toilets, baby change and a Changing Place facility. “This is an important public amenity to ensure we are meeting the needs and requirements of our customers and we are delighted we could collaborate closely with the council to deliver another Changing Place facility in the city.
“This Changing Place facility will be the fifth in the Aviva Investors portfolio completed or budgeted in the next 12 months.”

David Watts, the City of Wolverhampton Council’s Director of Adult Services, said: “I am delighted that Aviva Investors, the owners of Bentley Bridge, were able to accommodate this facility into the leisure park. “As a major retail and leisure area in the city it is really important that there are facilities of the highest standard to support people with disabilities to access and use, and shows a big commitment to working towards our city being accessible and inclusive for all people.”

The new facility will be added to the Changing Places website – www.changing-places.org – which will indicate days and times of availability.The toilets have been partly or wholly funded by the Department of Education’s Aiming High for Disabled Children grant given to the City of Wolverhampton Council to improve outcomes for people with disabilities.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

1/ For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact Paul Brown, Communications Advisor, on 01902 555497 or email paul.brown@wolverhampton.gov.uk.

• Issued by the City of Wolverhampton Council’s Corporate Communications Team.
• For more information, please call 01902 555439.
• More news from the City of Wolverhampton Council is available at:
  • www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/news
  • www.twitter.com/wolvescouncil
  • www.facebook.com/wolverhamptontoday
  • www.youtube.com/wolverhamptontoday

My task for today was to work on the Wednesfield Canal Festival.

As part of that program I met with the team from ‘Hands on Wednesfield’ – Simon Archer, Simon Hamilton,James Clarke and Dani the Manager from The Nickelodeon, and Mark Welsby from Bentley Bridge Leisure Park.

We planned for the 2019 Wednesfield Canal Festival, and the team are photographed here with the cheque for £250 that the Festival team have raised for the charity from our 2018 event. I have agreed to take it to the next meeting I attend of the C&RT Advisory Board.

I am so proud of what our Volunteers do to make Wednesfield such a great place to live, work, and take our leisure.

Please put the 10th and 11th August 2019 into your Diary as we are going to do it all again this year!

These are the great people, the power and the energy behind many of the projects that the volunteers churn out to improve Wednesfield.

Wednesfield Canal Festival 2019 – It is very early days, but planning has been taking place already for this event this year, with some really good content already agreed.

Recently I reported on the street signs that have been vandalised on the Springhill Estate

Its always sad when a neighbourhood attracts all the wrong sort of attention, for all the wrong reasons. But the road signs have been vandalised and it is causing real difficulties for delivery drivers and those that are not familiar with the street scene.

Your Councillors have reported the matter. We are now informed that the Authority have stated –  “Regarding the issue with the street nameplates on the Springhill Estate.

The officer responsible , has attended site and as you can see from his reply he intends to replace the signs rather than repaint them.  We batch order street name plates to get the best price so the vandalised locations  will be added to the next order.”

I do hope that residents will find this action acceptable. It goes without saying that if you do have any names who were responsible for daubing this paint on the street signs? Could you please tell the Police!

In amongst the bad news that is being announced by Marks and Spencer is the little glimmer of light in that the store in Wolverhampton will be staying open. Well for this round at least.

Wolverhampton shoppers will be pleased to hear this news.

The 17 stores that have been announced today as closing down are in:

• Ashford
• Barrow
• Bedford
• Boston
• Buxton
• Cwmbran
• Deal
• Felixstowe
• Huddersfield
• Hull
• Junction One Antrim Outlet
• Luton Arndale
• Newark
• Northwich
• Rotherham
• Sutton Coldfield
• Weston Super Mare

The sad news is that there will also be some 1,000 Marks and Spencer staff that will lose their jobs. My sympathy is very much with those families that suddenly find that the job has gone.

Surprising for me is the fact that the Marks and Spencer store in Sutton Coldfield will be closing its doors. So for one more time Wolverhampton has  seemed to have dodged the bad news.

Just a little reminder for your diaries.

Wednesfield Canal Festival 2019 will be again taking place this summer on our wonderful Wyrley & Essington Canal, at Bentley Bridge Leisure Park Wednesfield which is located on the banks of the  Wyrley and Essington canal.

The date will be the Saturday 10^th and Sunday 11^th August 2019.

We will as in previous years be having side stalls, funfair type rides (More information later!) and music and entertainment over the two days. We will be announcing information relating to the floating part of the event early in the Spring.

Main reason for this Post is to ensure that the residents of Wednesfield place this  date their  diary early!

We have held this Wednesfield Canal Festival now for a number of years, it gets bigger and better each time it is held.

What a fantastic two-day event we held at the Wednesfield Canal Festival (2018) at Bentley Bridge Leisure Park last year.

The Canal Festival had a record overall attendance of 4,446 visitors – a 3.4% increase on 2017’s event’

The 2018 event had great weather on the Saturday, but sadly the weather let us down on the Sunday.

Councillor Phil Bateman said “If the ‘Weather Gods’ had been kind on the Sunday, we would have had an even bigger number of visitors attending, and I would have been reporting an even larger increase in attendance. 

So, don’t miss out the two days of great music, canal attractions, funfair and other stalls, get this year’s date in your diary and keep an eye open for more information as it becomes known on the timetable and attractions that ‘Hands on Wednesfield’  and the volunteers that put the festival on will be bringing.”