The Lickey Hills Society

Chairman's Report At The Annual General Meeting Held On The 28th November 2005

Chairman, Mike Brooke, reported that the re-development of Rednal Village was proceeding at a slow pace despite the fears expressed some two years ago of a rapid change in the face of the village. Though the Copper Coin amusement arcade is planned for demolition, and the site scheduled for an apartment block, there are, as yet, no signs of this happening. The owners of the other amusement arcade, Leisuretime, have conferred with us about their plans for re-development of their building and we made some suggestions to the owners and Bromsgrove Planning Department regarding the height of the proposed building. We note that the work of demolishing the building has begun. Clarkes Garage that was, has now become a Chrysler Jeep dealership, and there is no sign yet of the re-development for which the site has outline plans.

Mike congratulated the Cofton residents and the White Swan Piscatorial Fishing Club which had jointly purchased Cofton Lake reservoir and he said that it was good to learn that the lake is shortly to receive the second batch of fish and that the club has created a number of islands to encourage and protect wildlife.

Tom Harvey was thanked for helping the Society keep up-to date by setting up a web site. This is to be gradually expanded with links established to web sites of local organisations.

The Lickey Hills Rangers continued to support our programmes: the very knowledgeable Simon Needle led us on a bat detection evening (see over), and Daniel Squire led us on a fascinating archaeology walk. In thanking them, Mike congratulated Daniel who is being promoted but alas is moving on to another park –our loss will be their gain.

The members who had turned out for the biannual litter picks were thanked by Mike and included in his thanks those members who pick litter independently in their own time. Litter picking, said Mike, was one of the group activities that made an immediate improvement to the Hills.

Prior to the election, Mike thanked the Officers and the Committee for their hard work over the year. He also thanked Pam Bridgewater, Janet Duckworth, Cath Elliott, Vicky Hewitt and Barbara Hall who delivered the Newsletter in the last year, and Gill & Pete Harvey who do the catering work through the year.

The Officers elected:
Mike Brooke: Chairman
Jill Harvey: Vice-Chair
Baden Carlson: Hon. Sec.
Pete Harvey: Hon. Treasurer

Committee Members elected:
Rob Amos, Brian Bridgewater, Brenda Carlson, Brian Gould, Diane Smith

Our thanks were expressed by Mike to Lickey Hills Ranger, Simon Needle, who, after the AGM business gave a very interesting and informative talk about developments and the work and activities the rangers engage in on the Hills over the year. In his wide-ranging presentation, Simon referred to the Society's Bats Evening, which he led. He told the meeting that on that evening we discovered that there are now serotine bats on the Hills. This first record of the serotine bat brings the total of bat species on the Hills to eight out of the sixteen species found in Britain. An exciting re-discovery on the hills was the Twaydale orchid which, though not rare, has not been spotted recently partly because it is so difficult to find. Rangers will show any members the site but it important that the location is protected.

Mike congratulated Simon and his fellow rangers, ably led by Chief Ranger Joe Hayden, for their continuing success and professionalism in achieving the Green Flag award for the seventh successive year.

The Civic Trust

Members will be aware that we have been members of the national body called the Civic Trust since the Lickey Hills Society began. The Civic Trust helps societies, such as our own, to set up constitutions and offers advice on civic matters. It also runs national campaigns, manages the Green Flag Awards, and lobbies the government concerning matters related to the built environment. It keeps in touch with its members through its magazine entitled Civic Focus which in its 50th anniversary issue last year celebrated "50 of the Best" programmes it has been associated with. Amongst the fifty was, of course, the Lickey Hills Country Park, so its further congratulations to the Ranger Service and the City for this extra commendation!

Other Development and Planning News

The Rednal Tram tracks: As reported last year the tram tracks have been given a degree of local protection. This requires any developer on the site to say what will be done about the tracks and so this gives objectors a chance to voice their concerns. At present the tracks are partly overgrown so we will take up this with the owner and we may have to offer to do the clearance so members should be ready to volunteer help.

Telecommunication masts: Birmingham's enlightened policy, which had sought to control the siting of some masts in sensitive sites, has been criticised by the Government Office for the West Midlands as being "out of step with national guidelines". This is very regrettable but we hope Birmingham will win the battle to control the spread of masts in its own areas about which it knows more that the national government.

The Rover site and the prospective new road remain matters of real concern in view of the cross boundary planning responsibilities shared by Birmingham, Bromsgrove and Worcestershire C C. We understand that everything remains very much "up in the air". We maintain that the Planning Depts of each authority and the other bodies and agencies must consult fully and transparently with all concerned about all the options for the site and the proposed new road, rather than presenting fait accompli as consultation.