Have you ever wondered what Digbeth Residents Association actually does?
Well wonder no more!

Our Chair, Val Woodward, presented a report at our Annual General Meeting back in February, neatly summarising what DRA does. You can read the document below, and if you have any comments, feel free to post away!

Chairperson Report 2011-2

Regular readers of MyDigbeth may remember Midlands Architechture and the Designed Environment (MADE) holding a Public Exhibition and Consultation for the Eastside Masterplan on 12th March.

As a result of the event, MADE were able to compose the following response to the Eastside Masterplan.

Thanks to Digbeth Resident Lisa Zdravkovic for sharing this document.

MADE Eastside Masterplan Response

Local evening venue, and supporters of Digbeth Residents Association, the Rainbow, have informed all residents of their first street party of 2012, due to take place this weekend. Please see below for the full details:

Dear Digbeth Resident,

Thank you for your continued support.

We would like to make you aware of our first Street Party of the year, which will take place this Saturday 7th April: Circo Loco. The event starts initially in the new Rainbow Arena, an open-air space on Hack Street, from 2pm until midnight. The afterparty is then on Adderley Street, the Rainbow Pub and Warehouse until 6am.

Should you have any concerns about noise in advance or during this event, please contact the hotline numbers: 07919 563 195 or 07976 625 652
Alternatively, please email therainbowevents@gmail.com

If you would like complimentary tickets to this event, please email kent@therainbowvenues.co.uk

Many thanks from all at The Rainbow.

Just a reminder that the April meeting of Digbeth Residents Association will take place this evening, at 6pm, in the Nomad room, ground floor Zellig, Custard Factory.

Today’s meeting is an open meeting for anyone interested in attending; the topic of discussion will be ‘Community Power’.

Please find an agenda for the meeting below; see you there!

Agenda 02.04.12

The job of policing Digbeth is the responsibility of the Digbeth Neighbourhood Police Team, headed up by Sergeant Andy Wood. He is supported by five PCs (Abdul Hye, Les Hands, Tracey Pickering, Emma Darroch and Phil Bates) and five PCSOs (Anita Hodson, Charmaine Brown, Alfie Hobbs, Sajid Khan and Amee Cox).

Although we do suffer from some crime, Digbeth is not one of Birmingham’s hotspots; a lot of this is down to the hard work of the Digbeth Team in not only fighting, but also preventing offences. This work was recently recognised in the Birmingham Mail.

One of the problems Digbeth does have stems from the fact it’s treated like an open air car park for city centre workers and shoppers which makes us a target for thieves. Sgt Wood said: “Thousands of people park their cars here every morning and don’t come back for eight hours, so historically Digbeth has suffered from high vehicle crime.”

However, intelligence-led targeted patrols have led to vehicle crime being cut in half. Anti-social behaviour issues, including street begging and street drinking, are also being targeted.

In neighbouring Highgate, where bored youngsters suffer from deprivation and a lack of open spaces to play in, the Digbeth Team have been working closely with Highgate United Group (HUG) and have secured funding to create a children’s play area.

Digbeth Residents Association very much appreciates the work of the Digbeth Team, and the support they show us by regularly attending our meetings. Not only this, but DRA was recently awarded a £1000 grant from West Midlands Police, to help in our work to create a safer Digbeth by focussing on fostering a sense of community both within Digbeth and with our neighbours in Highgate.

PC Tracey Pickering handed over a cheque to DRA Chair Val Woodward. Digbeth Residents Association would like to thank  West Midlands Police warmly for this donation; we look forward to working even closer together with the Digbeth Team in future.