All talk and no action from Birmingham Labour on road safety

A tragedy of deaths on our roads led to a demonstration by Better Streets for Birmingham at the weekend which Lib Dem members attended. Cabinet member for Environment Cllr Majid Mahmood, issued a letter (available via X here) declaring a road safety emergency.

Long serving Councillor and Group Leader Roger Harmer responded by saying “On behalf of my group, we send our deep and sincere condolences to the families who have tragically lost loved ones as a result of collisions on Birmingham roads.”

“Sadly, declaring an emergency seems to mean nothing to this council. We declared a climate emergency years ago and little was done. We declared a housing emergency and it took commissioners taking over for any real change to happen.”

“We are all too used to seeing words without action from Birmingham Labour. In their own manifesto written in early 2022, they promised to make the city cleaner, safer and better. It’s clear that they’ve made it dirtier, less safe and worse.

“This council has powers to increase the number of speed cameras, indeed Birmingham Labour’s own manifesto promised to treble the network of average speed cameras and make school streets ‘among the safest in the city’. They have taken no action and achieved nothing. It’s incredibly frustrating, as we know that this is of paramount importance to people.”

“We need a council that acts, rather than one that just talks about it”

In a passionate retort to a police tweet explaining measures to make the streets safer, former Police Sergeant Cllr Izzy Knowles spoke directly to the Chief Constable saying “It’s not enough, Mr Guildford. We’ve heard this all before. Restore 24/7 traffic patrols. Empower and train the neighbourhood teams, act on community intelligence, target the prolific offenders, seize more vehicles.”

Liberal Democrats continue to campaign for better road safety. People can sign up to our current campaign here.