Shabana Mahmood MP | My Digbeth

Shabana to Save our Markets!

Our local MP, Shabana Mahmood, has been a vocal supporter of Digbeth Residents Association, attending the Digbeth Summit in February; fighting our corner regarding the proposed Digbeth Enterprise Zone by writing to Birmingham City Council on our behalf; and questioning what happened to our application for Community Chest Funding way back in Spring 2011 (more on that soon!).

Now, Shabana is helping to support our campaign to save the Bullring Wholesale Markets, by putting further pressure on the Council to reconsider their proposed actions:

After months of uncertainty, we are still no nearer finding out the fate of our wholesale markets.

Public support for the markets is clear – last month, a 40,000 signature petition was handed in to Birmingham City Council, calling for the markets to either be left where they are, or be funded to move.

Is Birmingham City Council rising to this challenge? Sadly, no. It is dithering, while the threat to our markets goes on. Now we’re told that a decision might not come until after the local elections in May! It’s just not fair to leave the traders hanging on like this.And it’s not just the traders who will suffer if the markets are lost. In November, a report revealed that without the markets, prices in the city’s restaurants could soar by £2 a dish.

All this uncertainty is damaging our city. I’m calling on the Council to stop dithering, and commit to securing the market’s future, either on the current site, or by funding a move. But I need your help.Please show your support for our markets by filling in this short survey by clicking the link here.

DRA would encourage everyone to complete Shabana’s survey to keep piling on the pressure. As our MP, Shabana is there to help us, but can’t do anything unless she knows what the problems are. If you would like to bring any issues to her attention, please find her contact details on her website. On her last visit to Digbeth, Shabana Mahmood also left some handy information leaflets with Digbeth Residents Association – if you’d like one, please tweet us!

2012: 03/14
POSTED BY: Pamela Pinski
CATEGORY: Local Announcements
TAGS: Birmingham City Council
Bullring Wholesale Markets
Digbeth Summit
Shabana Mahmood MP
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Digbeth Summit – Thanks

Thank you to everyone who attended Thursday’s Digbeth Summit: Keeping Digbeth Different event. We recorded an attendance of at least 75 people, which is very encouraging for our first event of this kind!

As well as thanking everyone who attended, Digbeth Residents Association would also like to extend thanks to our keynote speakers, Shabana Mahmood MP and Mark Barrow from Birmingham City Council, for supporting the Digbeth Summit. Special thanks also go to our volunteer facilitators for running the group discussions and feeding back to the wider attendance.

As promised at the event, Mark Barrow kindly agreed to share the presentation he gave; please find a copy of the slides below. Videos and a report of the group discussions from the Digbeth Summit will also be made available on mydigbeth.co.uk as soon as possible.

Initial responses to the event have been positive, and we may hold a follow-up in future. As such, DRA is looking for any feedback, be it positive or negative, to help our planning. Comments can be sent by email, Twitter, Facebook or by posting a response in the comments after this article.

Of course, this event would not have been possible without the support of our sponsors: the Custard Factory, South Birmingham College, Bay Leaf Restaurant and the Urban Futures Project at the University of Birmingham.