For several years residents have raised concerns about parking on Dickens Heath Rd alongside the Village Green – that it causes traffic issues, road rage, and that it is dangerous for pedestrians crossing with children to the Village Green.  We were very pleased to hear from Borough Councillor Ken Hawkins that this section of road has finally been approved for inclusion on the SBMC 2022/23 Traffic Regulation Programme.  It is a fairly high priority, and is number 6 on their list – we look forward to seeing the additional double yellow lines installed later in the year.

The Parish Council have now agreed with the previous owners of the Tesco Car Park for Landscaping Works to be carried out during February.

There are ongoing parking issues in both car parks. The Tesco car park is owned by the Parish Council and the Mortons Car Park is owned by DHMC, with neither organisation presently having enforcement powers. Car parks are tightly regulated, and to resolve these problems a managed scheme is being proposed. This managed scheme would cover both car parks, and other private parking in the central area, with all the necessary signage and marking to better regulate use.

Note. A new directly elected Board for the central area estate will shortly be taking over control of DHMC and the management policy from the Receivers. Once this is in place, the managed scheme for car parking can be taken forward, and will hopefully go some way to improving the parking problems.

Concern has been raised over anti-social behaviour on the Village Green, in the Village Centre and in underground car parks. This has ranged from eggs thrown at homes, cars and bikes damaged, new bins and benches being deliberately fire damaged, to items and broken glass in the playground. Dickens Heath Management Company currently carry out a 24 hour security CCTV monitoring role in the central area, along with patrols at night that check the car parks are secure. Any incidents are reported to the police and security will move on trespassers in the car park areas. Security patrol checks all gated car parks are secure unless awaiting repair. Neither the Parish Council nor DHMC have any enforcement powers with regard to ASB and rely on Police back-up when called.

Residents are strongly urged to call the Police on 101 to record all ASB occurrences.

Please note that these consultations close on the 16th of January so you need to be quick if you would like to have your say

Public Space Protection Orders relating to dog controls Solihull Council is consulting on the imposition of two Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs) relating to dog controls and is also seeking views on other areas of dog-related anti-social behaviour.The first proposed PSPO relates to dog fouling. It creates an offence for a person in charge of a dog to fail to remove, and properly dispose of, faeces from the dog. The Order would apply to all land in the borough that is open to the air and to which the public are entitled or permitted to have access. There are, however, exemptions for people with disabilities.The second proposed PSPO relates to the exclusion of dogs from children’s play areas and school land. It creates an offence for a person in charge of a dog to take it into such an area of land.The Council is also seeking views on other areas of dog-related anti-social behaviour. These relate to the maximum number of dogs one person can walk at one time and the requirement to keep dogs on leads in certain areas or at the request of a Council official.

This consultation will close on Sunday 16 January 2022.

Follow the links below for more information:

https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/…https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/…