Castle Bromwich Community Website

I don't know whether anyone else noticed last night (throughout the Arsenal - Celtic game) but there was a car lapping around the Chester Road/Kingsleigh Drive area that sounded like the Space Shuttle taking off. I don't know whether it was a top spec car with a big engine or a souped up model but it was taking the mick. I can't imagine what satisfaction the owner was getting out of it but it was a pain in the jacksie. I am only on about last night and cannot really say I have experienced anyrthing like this before in my bit of Castle Brom.

There's a car that used to do this consistently at speed past our house at around 11pm at night and at 2am in the morning. It hasn't been so persistent of late although it still occasionally happens. We reported it to the Police at a PACT meeting and several others backed our complaint saying that they lived some way off the main road in a side street, but were still disturbed by it. Police promised to patrol area at appropriate times when resources were available. No idea if they did, but as I say, problem is far less persistent.

I have heard this car a few times come up our road and I got a glipse of the car at the weekend, it's a white VW Golf GTI.  I don't think it's as annoying as the scrap metal trucks at the weekend.  The car is awfull but it only last about 7 seconds but the scrap truck are going on for half an hour because you can hear them 15 minutes before they get to your road and 15 minutes after.

Mention of the scap metal truck, making a disturbing noise, brings me to remind people that this is a blessing in disguise.

No longer can we residents of Solihull use the Tamar Drive facilities to dispose of our unwanted scrap metal.

Here is a free oppurtunity to get rid of ourscrap.

Please be aware that soon this Parish is going to suffer a blight of fly tipping, especially when the nights start drawing in  

I have lived in the Parish for a long time now and don't relish the thought of fly-tipping on the scale you fear. What is the reason behind this looming threat and why has it not manfest itself before? I am unaware of any such 'blights' in the past.

Fly tipping is a human trait, and has been for years gone by.The reason I see the crime being on going and with greater amounts is down to Birmingham city council making the disposal of rubbish, more difficult for Solihull residents. The reason you say it hasnt manifested itself before, is that the reasons stated did not exist before. The answer is for the Parish council to promote a skip to be placed at stratgetic points in the Parish, to at least attempt to solve the problem.

Heatproof at 12:05PM on Aug 29, 2009

Fly tipping is a human trait, and has been for years gone by.The reason I see the crime being on going and with greater amounts is down to Birmingham city council making the disposal of rubbish, more difficult for Solihull residents. The reason you say it hasnt manifested itself before, is that the reasons stated did not exist before. The answer is for the Parish council to promote a skip to be placed at stratgetic points in the Parish, to at least attempt to solve the problem.

I can't see this developing as you fear, I really can't but I think that your idea is excellent. I think it is time for Castle Brom to have a purpose built recycling area rather than having bottle/clothes banks dumped on car parks. This could also be coupled with a dumping facility. Must be manned though.

Anybody ever noticed that the ice cream vans do not have a business address, or phone number on the side of their jingly-jangley vans? When you are trying to sleep after your night shift, (nurses, and policemen, and others) these vendors come, polluting the air with their silly tunes.

I would like to phone their number at say 3.00 am and play music to the person who answered!!!

It's a very noisy world these days, alarms going off, music blaring out of cars and the bass thumpng away is a particular problem where we live, but even the low level background noises that most people can tune out are increasing. I'm very aware of how much environmental noise has increased because my son suffers from hyperacausis which means that certain sounds cause him physical pain and prevent him functioning. Having spent many a hour up with him in the middle of the night when somebody unthinkingly sounds their car horn as they drive past, I can certainly understand your comments, Heatproof.

I dont not profess to know exactly what is meant by the phrase "white noise", but I do know that it is among us, and affects us all to a degree, without us being conscious of its exsistance.

Noise, be it loud, or soft, is a pollutant, accepted as inevitable.

Total silence, if ever there is such an occurance, is deafening!!!

This is something that I have learned from speaking to Occupational Therapists whilst looking for solutions to my son's problems, white noise is a combination of all the different frequencies of sound and because of this is frequently used to mask other sounds and used as a sound therapy to treat such things as hyperacausis and tinitus, although pink noise is often a better option. A fan produces a white noise sound. White noise generators are often used in large open plan offices to reduce the distance that speech carries so office staff aren't distracted by background conversations. So, I guess that I agree that  we have already accepted that noise is an inevitable pollutant and are just trying to find ways of masking it.

With the question of noise being detremental to our well being, and the subtle infringement of "white noise".

Has anyone else noticed the low hum given off by the long life bulbs, that we are now forced to have in our homes?

This background is hardley noticable, but question the intrusion, next time you witness a mood swing with yourself, or family.

Modern living, is stressful. Dont underestimate the effect of invisible icursions on your daily life.

Electro motive force, is with us, and responsible for a type of leukaemia. but then I digress.

Heatproof at 02:51PM on Aug 28, 2009

Mention of the scap metal truck, making a disturbing noise, brings me to remind people that this is a blessing in disguise.

No longer can we residents of Solihull use the Tamar Drive facilities to dispose of our unwanted scrap metal.

Here is a free oppurtunity to get rid of ourscrap.

Please be aware that soon this Parish is going to suffer a blight of fly tipping, especially when the nights start drawing in  

I'm a Castle Bromwich resident and I have never stopped using the Birmingham Tamar Drive tip.

Like all initiatives, the asking for a Birmingham post code on arrival has gone by the board and nobody asks for one these days. Even if they did I'm sure we all know someone with a genuine local Birmingham post code. Like all "Government" initiatives it's unworkable.  

".......this Parish is going to suffer a blight of fly tipping, especially when the nights start drawing in......"   -  Has there been an increase in fly tipping? Almost 2 years has gone since the initial comment was made. I personally have noticed an increase and no-one seems to have voiced a concern here, so have we escaped the "blight"?

I have seen an increase in flytipping. There are a few areas around Castle Bromwich where I have reported incidences on a fairly regular basis, but my experience has been that Solihull Council has responded quickly and sorted the problem. There have also been incidences on Parish Council owned land which are also being dealt with quickly.

Is the increase so bad that something permanent needs to be done about it? I have asked about and no one has voiced a concern on that front but if it is something that is going un-noticed by my fellow residents and I then it should be a concern for us nonetheless - Castle Brom has far too many NIMBYs and I dont want to fall into that category.

I think things have already been done. The tipping is in specific places which have more regular patrols by both the Police and Neighbolurhood Officers. Solihull Council negotiated with Biormingham Council and we can use the tip at the bottom of the road again and any evidence which shows who was responsible for fly tipping is followed up.

Neighbours are people who live close to other people

That is obvious.

So, if people complain about rubbish being left about, it is the neighbours who are guilty.

The solution is to inform on them through the usual offices.

Problem solved, and community charge saved.

Your details will remain confidential.

I can't agree with that Colin. Most of the litter down our our road is fast food wrappers, drink cans etc that have been dropped, often next to a litter bin, by people walking along the road. You can see by the names on the wrapping some is bought quite a way away from where it's dropped. The same goes for dog fouling. Nobody takes their dog for a walk in their own area, they take them to mess outside someone else's house.

You can also see evidence every week where paper, plastic items etc has been left on the pavements by the "self supervising" contractors that collect our recycling. They empty our boxes by tipping the contents into a wheelie bin, some misses and ends up on the floor where it stays until you pick it up yourself. I take my stuff to the Arden Hall recycling centre now and save the mess.

If you have look at Solihull MBC's "Public Register of Convictions" for anti social behaviour you will see it's empty. The reason it's empty is simply that there is nobody on the streets actually dishing out spot fines or prosecuting people for anti social behaviour. That  says it all for me.

http://www.solihull.gov.uk/environment/publicregisterofconvictions.htm