Birmingham Post
‘Exempt’ housing scandal feeding ‘epidemic levels’ of crime in city
ORGANISED crime gangs are cashing in on the city’s supported ‘exempt’ accommodation sector through drugs, money laundering and exploitation, police have revealed. The scandal has reached ‘epidemic levels’, councillors heard, as the unregulated sector...
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Doom-laden IT project at council is hit by new delay
BIRMINGHAM City Council’s troubled Oracle finance and IT project – which has already run up an estimated bill of £171m and been a critical cause of the authority going bust – has been hit by a new delay, triggering a backlash. The flagship project is...
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No recycling for six months as bin strike hits first year
HOUSEHOLDS will have to wait till June for recycling collections to restart – with no end in sight for the Birmingham bin strike a year after it started. Birmingham City Council confirmed its delayed transformation of the waste service, which includes...
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Birmingham inventor never made a killing from his Cluedo game
The daughter of Anthony Pratt, who invented Cluedo in the Second World War, has donated his archive to Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, and revealed the story of the game’s invention
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‘Waiting and hoping’ is no way to solve city bin strike
BIRMINGHAM City Council can no longer “just sit and hope for a resolution” in the ongoing bins strike, the government’s top commissioner has told the Post. Union Unite has said its disgruntled workforce will stay out next year if they have to. But...
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Cancer patient campaign after ‘outdated’ rule blocks surgery
AMUM denied a second stem cell transplant over ‘double jeopardy’ rules is campaigning for the “outdated” policy to be overturned by the NHS. Ruth Wake was told to “put her affairs in order” after being denied the potentially lifesaving transplant at...
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Gentle Katie ‘could not understandMaria. evil in world’
THE mother of fatal Birmingham stab victim Katie Fox has spoken for the first time about the fears she had for her daughter who had autism and learning disabilities. Katie, 34, was Christmas shopping at the Bullring when she let her mum know that she...
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City ‘fixers’ may stay in charge for three years
THE return of full council control to its officers and political leaders may take as long as three more years. The warning has come from Government lead commissioner Tony McArdle in a progress report to the Labour government’s Local Government...
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Binman ‘in wheelchair’ for ‘faked’ injury was working as a bouncer
ABIRMINGHAM council bins worker who claimed a work injury left him in a wheelchair was in fact operating as a pub bouncer and playing football. The case was highlighted as one of the most blatant attempts to defraud the city council by its own staff....
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Councillor ‘had no idea’ he was with ‘smuggler’ in Pakistan
ABIRMINGHAM councillor has denied knowing he was twice pictured in Pakistan with an alleged drug smuggler wanted over trafficking heroin into Birmingham. Former cabinet member for transport Councillor Waseem Zaffar was photographed with Raja Arshad...
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‘Fixers’ slam claims city cash crisis exaggerated
COMMISSIONERS overseeing Birmingham City Council have hit back at claims the authority’s financial woes have been overstated, saying the ‘false narrative’ is ‘distracting’ at a critical time. Lead commissioner Tony McArdle and finance commissioner...
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Plans for licensed premises in your neighbourhood could be hidden from view if new government proposals for secret alcohol licensing notices get the green light. SCAN THIS QR CODE and complete the survey to #defendyourrighttoknow
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Hospital fails in bid to end girl’s treatment after family’s legal action
BIRMINGHAM Children’s Hospital was forced to continue treating an 11-year-old-girl after her father took legal action. Medics told Gohar Ali they believed more treatment was not be in severelyill daughter Fatima’s best interests after she was left on...
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Refuse lorry blockade by union was illegal ‘insult’ to residents
UNITE union members “deliberately” blocked Birmingham bin lorries in breach of an injunction, the High Court has heard. The legal order, which the union previously agreed to, banned the blocking of trucks at depots amid the bitter council...
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Attractions may be hired out as trust hunts for income
SOME of the city’s most popular attractions face an uncertain future as traditional public funding dries up amid the council’s financial crisis. Bosses at Birmingham Museums Trust say its city attractions are now at a “critical crossroads”. The trust...
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Councillors ‘kept in dark’ over costly IT fix delays
ACOSTLY three-month delay to Birmingham City Council’s troubled IT project was only revealed to councillors when they read about it in the press. The story, which appeared in the Birmingham Post and its online arm BirminghamLive three weeks ago,...
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Thousands of jobs ‘at risk’ as JLR shutdown set to continue
JLR could face a £120 million hit to its finances after the car maker extended its shutdown for yet another week. The car giant will pause production until at least Wednesday, September 24 as it continues to grapple with the devastating fallout from a...
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Council IT overhaul ‘in trouble’ – insiders
THE huge project to rectify catastrophic failings in Birmingham City Council’s IT system is ‘in trouble’, say whistleblowers, despite a council document claiming all is well. The original Oracle system, heavily implicated in the authority getting into...
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Bin workers vote to carry on striking into spring
BIRMINGHAM residents are facing a second ‘winter of discontent’ after the city’s striking bin workers voted to continue their industrial action into 2026. The dispute involving more than 300 workers could now run until March after they voted...
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Healthy limbs amputated and wrong patient operated upon
ABIRMINGHAM hospitals trust has amputated healthy limbs, operated on the wrong patient and left needles inside bodies. The University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) reported 24 ‘never events’ over a decade from 2014, a report...
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Calls to keep flags flying as ‘patriotic’ campaign sparks row
AWIDESPREAD campaign to raise the St George’s cross in large parts of the city has sparked a major row as the council says it will remove them. As the local Tory group demanded the flags remain in place, supporters revealed the campaign had raised...
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City Bob Shops are ‘front for criminals’
ABIRMINGHAM judge has condemned a widespread criminal front hiding in plain sight on city streets. Most so-called Bob Shops are nothing less than a ‘front for money laundering by crime gangs’ a court heard. The stores are simply numbered and have...
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Backlash as region’s rail service to be nationalised
WEST Midlands Trains will come under public ownership from February 1 next year as part of the Department for Transport’s ongoing ‘Public Ownership Programme’. Other local services in the programme include Chiltern, which operates routes between...
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Chief council ‘fixer’ to step down after two years
BIRMINGHAM lead commissioner Max Caller is leaving the city council after a dramatic two years overseeing cuts and forcing through improvements within the beleaguered authority. Mr Caller, a willing lightning rod for anger over more than £300m of cuts...
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Shock and confusion as Labour fires councillors
BIRMINGHAM’S ruling Labour group was left reeling this week after the shock deselection of more than a dozen councillors ahead of elections next year. The group of sitting councillors have been told their applications to fight for their seat for...
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Hospital delays ended in death of ex-councillor after heart attack
THE death of a former city councillor after delays to a scan while he was having a heart attack may have been avoided, a coroner has ruled. Andrew Nicholls, 63, died at Heartlands Hospital last April following delays at Good Hope Hospital where he was...
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Judge blasts mother ‘who got pregnant to avoid jail’
AJUDGE condemned a woman for getting pregnant in an attempt to avoid a custodial prison sentence in an extraordinary outburst in Birmingham Crown Court. Tanya Parker was convicted of smuggling steroids, mobile phones and tobacco into HMP Birmingham to...
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High Court legal challenge over city gender clinic for 16-year-olds
CAMPAIGNERS have mounted a High Court challenge to the Care Quality Commission’s registration of a private Birmingham clinic offering gender treatment to young people, the first of its kind in England. Former nurse Susan Evans and an unnamed mother...
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Father died after artery tear missed by medics
AMAN died after medics missed a tear in a major heart artery due to a ‘lack of radiologists’. Mark Villers, 42, died at Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield last May after being admitted with severe chest pain. A CT scan was carried out but medics...
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£20k-a-year councillor went to two meetings in 12 months
ACITy councillor attended just two meetings in a year – and signed in for a third without stepping foot inside – leading to mounting calls for his resignation. However claims have now emerged that Cllr Jack Deakin (Allens Cross) tried to resign earlier...
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Council ‘fixers’ cost taxpayer nearly £2m
THE Government commissioners appointed to oversee Birmingham City Council have racked up nearly £2 million in fees and expenses so far. Lead commissioner Max Caller gets £1,200 a day. As the biggest earner he has raked in £302,264 in fees and expenses...
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Labour veteran apologises for ‘disrespect’ of female council member Bano
ALABOUR city councillor has apologised for disrespecting a female colleague who was at the centre of bullying claims inside the Birmingham party. Mohammed Idrees admited making ‘disrespectful’ comments to Shabina Bano during an alleged campaign...
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Knight: City is about to hit new peak – but we need to sell it
BIRMINGHAM is undergoing a new renaissance, claims Peaky Blinders writer and filmmaker Steven Knight – but residents and politicians have to ‘have faith’ and sell it to the world. Multiple projects are reaching critical stages that will put Birmingham...
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Region ‘out of danger’ after Trump trade deal
DISASTER for West Midlands manufacturers has been averted and thousands of jobs saved after the new trade deal between the UK and US ended the prospect of 25% tariffs. The move was this week welcomed by bosses after the threat of Trump’s tariffs on...
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New vision for historic street
The National Trust has commissioned artist’s impressions of Birmingham’s historic Station Street to ‘start a conversation’ over saving the culturally important part of the city centre.
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NHS ‘failed’ son found dead after cry for help Parents’ anger over mental health response
THE parents of a mentally ill man who died after he had pleaded to be sectioned by Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Trust claim the NHS has failed them. Tyran Jones, 30, of Northfield, had struggled with mental health issues for a decade before...
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Strikes ‘could spread’ as workers refuse to budge
STRIKING refuse workers turned down lump sum pay outs of between £7,000 and £16,000 to end Birmingham’s all-out bin strike this week – but were then locked out of the Council House as they tried to deliver a petition. The Unite union admitted the...
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Warning for region as Trump’s tariffs leave exporters fearing future
MIDLAND manufacturers need urgent support after US President Donald Trump launched a global trade war with his tariffs plan, claim local bosses. The region will be one of the hardest hit due to its major automotive base, including JLR, which has...
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Sadness as historic city shopping centre shuts
SHOPPERS and traders faced up to the end of an era this week as the owners of a popular Birmingham centre announced it was to close ‘indefinitely’. More than 30 traders at the Square Shopping Centre - better known as Priory Square Shopping Centre -...
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Top barrister is disbarred over sexual misconduct
ARENOWNED Birmingham barrister has been expelled from the Bar after he asked a woman he was mentoring to stay overnight in his hotel bed. Navjot ‘Jo’ Sidhu’s misconduct concerned a lawyer in her 20s during a work shadow experience in 2018. The KC is...
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Council is killing our pub trade – landlords
DIGBETH landlords fear it could be last orders for their pubs – with council policies and development destroying trade. A group of them have come together to demand action as Metro tram works, street closures streets, bus lanes, permit parking, the...
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A city ‘held hostage’
ANGRY Birmingham residents this week called for action to solve the city bins strike amid mounting rubbish and rats. As the Post went to press the strike went ‘all-out’ as the dispute between Unite and Birmingham City Council escalated over the...
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Academy is rapped over ‘gifts, Botox courses and hotels’
ABirmingham academy – rated outstanding in its last Ofsted inspection – was found to have broken rules on spending on a ‘Botox course and luxury hotel stays’. Dorrington academy, in Perry Barr, received a financial notice to improve from the...
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£8.4m collapse of firm run by Pride founder Barton probed
MILLIONS of pounds of public cash handed to a collapsed training firm run by the founder of Birmingham Pride is unlikely to be recovered, a liquidator’s report claims. GB Training (UK) Ltd, run by Lawrence Barton, closed in 2020 but has since been...
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Labour warns ex-chair of fire service after Marines claim
THE Labour party has issued a formal warning to the former chairman of West Midlands Fire Service following claims he made over his military service. Councillor Greg Brackenridge was suspended over claims he had exaggerated his service in the Royal...
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I’ve just months to overhaul years of neglect at council, claims new boss
THE woman tasked with turning ailing Birmingham City Council around says she has about 15 months to fix more than a decade of ‘neglect’. But new managing director Joanne Roney, who oversees thousands of staff working for Europe’s largest local...
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28 city libraries saved after council U-turn
BIRMINGHAM’S beleaguered libraries have been saved from the chop after a council Uturn on its original plans. The flagship Library of Birmingham will now stay open six days a week, while ten more libraries will open four days a week and 13 others three...
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Medics called ambulance to move patient just metres
MEDICAL staff dialled 999 to call an ambulance to move a patient a few hundred yards across a hospital site to have a catheter changed. Brian Dunne’s daughter Sally Sippitts said she could not believe staff at Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield...
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Solicitor in payout to teacher ‘hunted’ over false racism claims on TikTok
FAILED Birmingham election candidate Akhmed Yakoob has paid out “thousands of pounds” to a teacher he “put in danger” after spreading a “fake news” video to his followers. Election canvasser Cheryl Bennett faced hate mail, threats, and had people...
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Disastrous athletes’ village could cost city taxpayers over £688m
BIRMINGHAM’S bid to create a world-class athletes’ village for the 2022 Commonweatlh Games could end up costing council tax payers a massive £688 million, it was claimed this week. A scathing report said Labour city leaders at the time were convinced...
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Winter NHS crisis mounts as fit patients stuck in beds
ANNUAL winter NHS pressures are reaching crisis point again with huge numbers of healthy patients blocking beds because there is no community care for them across the region. Almost a quarter of patients arriving at West Midland hospitals by ambulance...
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Steep rise in antisemitic hate crime across region
AJEWISH charity called the soaring number of antisemitic hate crimes across the region “unacceptable”. Reports to police have more than tripled after the start of the HamasIsrael conflict. Dave Rich, spokesman for the Jewish charity, the Community...
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Council fixer attacks former leader’s call for pension refund to rescue city
AFORMER Birmingham City Council leader’s call to demand a half billion pound refund from the West Midlands Pension Fund has been dismissed as an “imprudent short term fix” by the commissioner sent in to oversee the authority. Max Caller said Professor...
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Policewoman who supplied crook lover intelligence gets 4 years
A‘‘broken’’ ex-police officer has been jailed alongside her crook former boyfriend after she fed him sensitive intelligence. Lorna Pennycook accessed West Midlands Police computer systems 200 times between 2017 and 2021 to ‘‘ingratiate herself’’ with...
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Council finally agrees £300m equal-pay deal
BIRMINGHAM City Council and the unions have finally struck a deal to settle a massive £300m of equal-pay claims. But the move prompted questions about a predicted £760m liability announced by council leader John Cotton and former CEO Deborah Cadman,...
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Couple jailed over cruel campaign of child neglect
ACOUPLE who repeatedly beat, starved and neglected their children in a ‘horrendous’ campaign of abuse were sent to prison this week. The mother, in her 40s, and father, in his 30s, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were caught when one of their...
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Thousands of landlord complaints – but no action
BIRMINGHAM City Council failed to prosecute a single rogue landlord in five years despite almost 7,500 complaints from private tenants left to cope with harassment, unlawful evictions and repairs. Complaints from concerned Birmingham residents...
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Police ‘failed MP’ threatened by Gaza supporters on election trail
WEST Midlands Police failed to act sufficiently to protect a Birmingham MP from threats made by pro-Gaza supporters during the 2024 general election campaign. Ladywood MP and now justice secretary Shabana Mahmood was targeted by masked men and people...
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BBC Midlands move means ‘£282m boost for the region’
THE BBC’s new West Midlands HQ will boost the region’s economy to the tune of £282 million and create hundreds of jobs, an independent report claims. The study by BOP Consulting, in partnership with the University of Birmingham, said the growth was...
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City’s flagship museum will not reopen in full till 2030
PLANS to fully reopen Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery are now delayed until at least 2030, a startling new report has revealed. The major tourist attraction closed in 2020 for rewiring work, with only a small part reopening last month. But now it has...
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Gov’t fixers ‘undermining democracy’ over closures
BIRMINGHAM City Council’s commissioner Max Caller has rejected claims he “overstepped his powers” and “undermined democratic scrutiny” when he refused attempts to delay the closure of four day centres for disabled adults. Government-appointed Mr...
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City expects £100m boost from hosting 2028 Euros
BIRMINGHAM could finally enjoy a welcome silver lining with a huge £100m economic boost and major international kudos when the 2028 Euros tournament kicks off. Villa Park is one of the proposed venues for the tournament. A new Birmingham City Council...
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Carers let rip at councillors as axe falls on day centres
EXASPERATED carers delivered a stinging rebuke to councillors after controversial plans to shut four adult day centres in Birmingham were signed off. The plan will save £1.95 million to a council grappling with effective bankruptcy – but emotions ran...
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Meltdown at fire service as chief exec is suspended
WEST Midlands Fire Service is in turmoil amid a bitter feud between its interim chief executive and the fire authority’s chairman. CEO Oliver Lee was dramatically suspended this week after a move by fire authority chairman Cllr Greg Brackenridge. Mr...
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Councillor cleared of harassment tells of ‘hell’
ABIRMINGHAM Labour councillor has been left angry and distressed over a gruelling nine-month party inquiry which finally cleared him of allegedly “harassing” a colleague. Jack Deakin is now considering legal action over the original allegation, which...
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Drivers undeterred by Clean Air Zone
BIRMINGHAM’S Clean Air Zone is not deterring as many motorists coming into the city centre as initially forcast by the council. The scheme came into operation in 2021 with the aim of reducing the number of cars and improving the levels of deadly air...
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