Birmingham City Council postpone Ladywood regeneration plan meeting - here’s why

A public meeting to discuss the future of the Ladywood Estate has been postponed by Birmingham City Council.

The council say this is to ensure a suitable venue and format can be found to accommodate the amount of people who want to discuss plans for the estate. It comes after several hundreds of Ladywood residents were turned away from a Birmingham City Council meeting regarding the neighbourhood’s future earlier this month.

At the first public meeting regarding a controversial plan for regenerating Ladywood, which would see large parts of it demolished, hundreds of people said they were not able to enter the Ladywood Health and Community Centre. The concerned residents wanted to raise questions about the £2.2 billion project in which many may be affected by to compulsary purchase orders around their homes.

So far, Birmingham City Council - which recommended St Joseph Homes Ltd to be its development partner - said the regeneration will take place on the 60 hectares Ladywood Estate. It will be a 20-year project that includes around 7,000 new sustainable homes, new schools, over 14 hectares of urban green open space with two new public parks & public realm, improved public transport, business incubator space and community facilities. A meeting to disucss the estate’s future was due to take place today (26 July) at 3pm, but has now been postponed.

What has the city council said about the meeting?

A statement from Birmingham City Council, read: “After careful consideration, following last week’s Ladywood Ward Forum, plans to host a further meeting on Wednesday (26 July) have been postponed - to ensure a suitable venue and format can be found to accommodate all those who wish to discuss plans for the estate.

“We are sorry for any inconvenience caused and do understand the frustrations residents and businesses in the area have – which is why we want to ensure the community is kept informed as much as possible. Lessons learnt from last Thursday’s meeting will be implemented as we put together a full programme of community engagement sessions, which we aim to launch in September. We will share the plan of activity as soon as possible.”