Our Scene CIC was commissioned by the Neighbourhood Development & Support Unit at Birmingham City Council to support the delivery of projects identified as priorities within the Ward Plans of Brandwood & Kings Heath and Billesley Wards. We became part of the Neighbourhood Action Coordination pilot across 20 wards across the city.

During 2023 and up to April 2024 we worked closely with councillors, amazing community groups, the police and council services within these wards to help shape, coordinate and find solutions for some of the issues and concerns identified by residents around the way our streets look and ‘low level’ community safety. We also ran a variety of projects and activities to improve the quality of life for people through increased access to and activities in our wonderful green spaces.

Here is a 'flavour' of what we led or supported!

We started with a ‘THANK YOU’ party to recognise all the brilliant people and groups involved in neighbourhood action in the wards. A great place to start some networking between groups. 180 active citizens representing 43 different voluntary and community groups across the two wards joined in this celebration, hosted by Mrs Barbara Nice with attendance from the Lord Mayor of Birmingham.

We held co-design days with local residents to kick start potential new projects at the wasteland in Dawberry Road and at the underdeveloped parade of shops on Yarningale Road. More on this to come!

The state of some alleys in Brandwood were a big issue for local residents, so we tried to tackle them! Organising for overgrowth to be cut back and introducing more litter picking with residents was a start, but there is still so much work to do for council services to pick up on.

We piloted a ‘one stop shop’ approach to offer advice with a car boot road show – as well as a cuppa. We didn’t get the uptake we were hoping for, but it was great to see local different services work together for the first time to support citizens. We set up in Patrons Road.

We partnered with the Kings Heath Neighbourhoods’ Forum and organised a Great Get Together Community Fair, bringing together over 20 community organisations from across both wards to showcase to the wider community the amazing work they do. Over 250 people attended.

Over 70 citizens signed up to a flexible volunteering scheme we set up called Active8. This pilot ran for 12 months. Citizens pledged to give 8 hours a year to local Friends groups and organisations who needed a helping hand from time to time. We promoted events and activities through monthly bulletins and social media for nine groups across the two wards which helped build awareness and capacity for the groups. 

Colmore Junior School’s ‘Social Action Club’ took up the Active8 challenge and earned a load of badges! We worked with them on a range of social action projects including making cards of kindness, litter picks and writing letters to Lidl, asking them to drop a kerb in their car park, and to businesses with one step at their entrance along Kings Heath High Street and York Road to encourage them to purchase portable ramps and become more inclusive to wheelchair users.

We organised a networking opportunity for community groups across the two wards in Billesley. The speed networking and Canva.com training event in November aimed to help groups connect and learn how to create better in house promotional material to save resources.

We secured a Neighbourhood Action Coordination grant to coordinate a brilliant project in Billesley in collaboration with the West Midlands Fire Service, the Friends of Swanshurst Park, young people local to the park and with input and support from Cllr Katherine Iroh and Park Ranger Jan. A fantastic mural was created by Tom and other local artists from ‘ForThem Handpainted’ which reflected the stories of the park. Watch the film we made about the project. It resolved the issue of antisocial tagging along the fire station walls. Six months on and there are no tags on the wall still – just art! 

We supported community groups in their applications to the Neighbourhood Action Coordination grants scheme, and chaired two community grant decision panels. 13 grants were awarded across the two wards. As an example, featured below is the freshly painted skate bowl, funded through a NAC grant awarded to the Friends of Dawberry Fields Park.

We worked with the Kings Heath and Brandwood Litter Pickers group to organise and promote new Brandwood evening picks to encourage more citizens to get involved, and tackle those alienating alleys. 

Out of of concern that our local residents without internet access were being left behind and weren’t accessing information about activities and support organisations, we enlisted the help of a resident to do some research. We produced printed information for noticeboards and Telephone Directories to pick up at community venues and libraries across the two wards.

Fly tipping in the alley between Kings Road and Dawberry Road has been a problem for decades. A Neighbourhood Action Coordination grant enabled us to contract Waste Monster Services to remove the majority of waste from the land running alongside the alley, much to the appreciation of users of this busy cut through.

One of the actions identified in the Billesley Ward Plan was building capacity for volunteer-led Friends groups. We supported the set up of the Beautifying Billesley group, helped them raise funds for their planter-building project and supported the BlossomFest event in Swanshurst Park with design, marketing and a collaborative artwork activity. We also created four wooden art trails working with art departments at Swanshurst Secondary School and Wheelers Lane Technology College which we installed in trees around four parks in the ward during the Easter holidays.

The corner on Dawberry Road, next to the alley to Kings Road has been for decades a wasted space and location for antisocial behaviour including fly tipping. We started working with residents to put positive things into the neighbourhood, including growing a beautiful meadow on the toil soil left after Seven Trent works. Once permission to use the land was granted, a Neighbourhood Action Coordination grant enabled us to clear over 20 tonnes of contaminated soil from the site and create a blank canvas upon which local residents can develop a community garden. 

We applied for more grants and were successful in funding from Starbucks to create a Nature Hub, one of 100 projects funded across the UK in 2024. This has now begun. Follow progress! Featured below are some of the Dawberry Corner Community Garden volunteers on our first work day on site.

We ended our 18 month project in partnership with the city council with a final networking event for local groups. knowing that we too as an organisation will be stronger and richer from all the relationships that have been built over the last one and a half years. 

Neighbourhood Matters has been a great project to work on and we are grateful to the NDSU team at the city council for the funded opportunity to work so extensively in the area and with so many wonderful people.  The council’s Neighbourhood Action Coordination programme has now ceased in Billesley and Brandwood & Kings Heath wards and in other wards, and its roll out across the city is no longer a possibility due to budget cuts. 

Our neighbourhood action work in Brandwood, however, will continue!