It has been a while since Gooseman, The park knight trod the boards around the lair of Sandwell Council, but now it seems is the time for his return.
There are multiple issues at present with this council which are not satisfactory from a wildlife perspective, these being
- The abysmal handling of the “avian flu” situation and unwillingness to share information with us.
- Despite claiming to want to “work” with us, many staff at Sandwell council continue to work against us- including managers in parks.
- Failure to complete the West Smethwick Park project to the stated timescale, and which has now taken twice as long as it was stated it would take. Two complaints have been made to the Heritage lottery , who state“Following our previous correspondence, colleagues have been out on site at the park to check on progress and followed up with video meetings with the project team. We share your concerns about the slow pace of works on the lake and landscaping. The project is running behind schedule and have now been informed that the contractor will be off site in May. Tarmacking works have been undertaken in recent weeks. The planting works will be undertaken by the Council’s Parks staff directly at which point the fencing and heavy machinery in the park will no longer be there significantly improving the appearance.” Many birds have been unable to nest as a result of the failure to replace vegetation that was ripped out, particularly the small island which is ridiculous. The fact that SMBC are doing this themselves perhaps shows that they have no confidence in Casey the contractors anymore, and nor should they because they have been a terrible failure.
This was supposed to be a “fern island” in the restoration. The stones mean that it is inaccessible for wildfowl to get onto, particularly young birds, and has not been designed by anyone with a clue about such matters. It is also now devoid of any vegetation or cover for nesting.
- Failure of officers to fix a vandalised gate at a nature reserve, reported in December or respond to ASB issues at the same site, despite emails and contact with local councillors.
And the subject of this protest, the failure of Sandwell council to take legal action against the liars, (from the CEO down), at Severn Trent, who polluted Smethwick Hall Park with human excrement and have never paid a penny to restoring the damage that they caused, despite managers leading SMBC officers up the garden path with a so called “community fund” application to which was turned down without any explanation as to why it had failed.
STW shaft Smethwick Hall Park and “broke” Sandwell council | Save Our Sandwell Canada Geese
SMBC were left to part desilt the pool, but in truth it was an amateur job and did not stop the continued issues at source which is STW inability to prevent environmental damage from its combined sewer overflow in the area.
There were other protests at the last full council meetings before the local elections from The Save Brandhall Golf Course group and the ongoing taxi drivers grievances, and so Gooseman and friends joined the line.
The issues were again explained to councillors Crompton and Millard, who is the new cabinet member with responsibility for parks and environmental matters. He will be getting an email about this situation and needs to put some rockets up a few arses to be sure!
What is most concerning is that Severn Trent continue to pump out their PR faster than their shit into streams. They claim to be tackling pollution in rivers, but do not mention pools or lakes like Smethwick Hall. They are also the preposterous “nature and carbon neutral supporter” for the 2022 BIRMINGHAM Commonwealth Games, for which the “Sandwell” aquatics centre ,(SAC), has been built just 400 metres away from the soiled Stony Lane pool in SANDWELL where birds died after being exposed to this human crap.
Taking a look at the money they gave out from their community fund, there does not appear to be a single project they and their “independent panel” gave out money for in SMBC territory, even though the chair of this group lives in Sandwell herself and used to work for a company in Tipton which was heavily subsidised by work from Sandwell council, (sorry Sandwell taxpayers)!
The SAC cost a boasted £73 million , parts of which will be ripped out after the two week event when the human triangles have finished with it, and a further £6 million will be spent before opening to the public in 2023. THIS IS A SHOCKING WASTE OF MONEY, AND CONTINUES TO PUT THE AUTHORITY IN THE RED. Previously, SMBC have closed swimming baths because of their lack of use, and one wonders who exactly will be attracted to this venue, a good distance from any train station, with poor local roads and entrances into the site, on what used to be The Londonderry playing fields, now ripped out.
“Carbon neutral” is another of those green polished turds that these people like to champion, but in reality SMBC have been cutting down trees in all their parks , as has been evidenced on this blog and elsewhere, at Victoria Park Tipton, West Smethwick, Titford pools, and Smethwick Hall.
Make no mistake, we will be protesting outside the Commonwealth Games venues as they are put into use to educate people about the liar sponsors of these games and their real shit footprint stench, and the death that they cause to nature, which is unrecognisable.
