Beautification of Birmingham City and its surroundings. What has gone wrong?

Being a resident of Britain’s second city for more than four decades, every year I look forward to seeing the array of summer perennial flowers that Birmingham City Council parks and nurseries department use to adorn places such as the Belgrave Middleway leading to Five Ways, Victoria Square and Centenary Square to name a few. The array of colours is a sight to behold and the flora and fauna certainly make Birmingham a city in bloom.

For the second city that in less than 40 days plans to host the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, it remains like a building site no matter which way one enters it from with dug up roads, manholes, potholes, diversions, an unfinished tram system, cranes galore, traffic jams, road closures and barriers all amounting to an eye sore. How Birmingham plans to cater for the influx of visitors from the Commonwealth countries does not bear thinking about considering the state of the current infrastructure.  I would not be surprised if competitors end up arriving late for their scheduled events having been caught up in traffic snarling at a snail’s pace as it is truly awful and needs urgent attention.  Even in some areas temporary installed traffic lights which one would think are there to ensure a steady flow of traffic remain on red for far too long and add to the problems.

The different government and council departments do not seem to have thought through any of this with a joined-up/coordinated approach or to put another way the left hand does not have any idea what the right hand is doing. I foresee it all amounting to a logistical nightmare with gridlock during the Games but hope that I am proved wrong in my assessment of the situation. 

The amount of rubbish one sees littering the streets along with the uncut grass verges/banks add to the problem.  Having visited Canada on numerous occasions from the 1970s and even as recent as 2019 I am always impressed with how clean that country is and how it takes pride in that aspect.  Britain could learn from that country’s approach to sanitation, cleanliness, road maintenance and litter bugs.

When visitors come to Britain one thing that leaves an indelible impression on them is the beauty of the floral displays and hanging baskets that adorn not just Birmingham City Centre   but other places across the country. The beautification of the city in terms of floral displays and roadside gardens is sadly lacking. They certainly are not in the usual places this year and of all the years one would have thought this would be so for residents and visitors alike to appreciate the beauty of nature.   

Apparently, the display, celebrating Birmingham’s status as a ‘Proud Host City for the 2022 Commonwealth Games’ which has earned the city council its tenth consecutive gold medal at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show in May will from July to September be reproduced in the grounds of Birmingham Cathedral in the City Centre. Why has the whole month of June gone by without it being in place already? 

Along with my wife and two other friends we went to the Muller Diamond League athletics meet on the 21^st May at the newly refurbished Perry Barr Alexander Stadium which for my liking remains too exposed to the elements. We learnt beforehand that there would be no parking facilities at the venue for this event and visitors were advised to board one of the shuttle buses from the City Centre. Fortunately, one of our friends who went with us lives less than half a mile from the venue and we were able to park in his driveway.  Further research suggests and here I quote ‘Once the development is finished, the free on-site parking at the stadium is expected to re-open’.  That will certainly be needed and one hopes entering and leaving it will be handled as smoothly as possible during the opening and closing ceremonies and the athletics competition.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and although vast sums of money have been spent on various aspects of the Commonwealth Games it appears that the need for floral arrangements/displays were left out of the equation.  What an oversight and an opportunity missed when Mother Nature could have been prominent throughout the entire Games and beyond.