Touché Khalid… June 1, 2010

New Perry Barr MP Khalid Mahmood- a man true to his word?

So, as promised, I received an email back today from the new Perry Barr Labour MP Khalid Mahmood- and I have to say, it sounds rather impressive.

I wanted to know where the MP stood on environmental concerns. There wasn’t much to be found online about his thoughts and more worringly, his voting record (found at ‘TheyWorkForYou.com) claims that he ‘voted moderately against laws to stop climate change’.

Taking a look at PublicWhip, things look even worse. Here we are told that Khalid Mahmood MP, Birmingham, Perry Barr voted strongly against the policy Stop climate change by scoring 17.4% compared to the votes below (take a look if you like.

Despite pointing this out to the MP, he told me:

‘Thank you for your e-mail. I am not sure how the reference to ‘moderately against’ came from. I supported the Climate Change Bill and I was delighted that we were able to pass such a ground breaking law, I am also a strong supporter of the hunting ban and will fight against any moves to repeal the act. I am, however, a supporter of nuclear power and I make no apologises for this. It is the only realistic way of delivering clean fuel.

In terms of local campaigning I have fought on environmental issues, often these are based on getting local problems resolved rather than on national topics. I have been greatly heartened by some of the progress over the last decade, regeneration, especially in Lozells/Handsworth, has enhanced the environment of the area, in particular Handsworth Park has been transformed, Sandwell Valley has been opened up to greater access for local people and allotments in the area have gone from strength to strength. There is noticeably less graffiti and littering in the area and this has been partly as a result of the priorities set by local people for the police and council.

I will soon be launching my ‘our Perry Barr’ campaign soon and this will have an environmental element, the project is based on public input so it will be interesting to see what environmental concerns are raised by local people.

I hope this has been of some help to you, I am always keen to hear what ideas local residents have so just let me know and I will see what can be done to support them.’

Could it be that the information on these websites is wrong, or perhaps that the MP has changed his mind on certain issues?

Perhaps the MP is starting to pick up on what is important to the people local to Perry Barr and surrounding areas. This is certainly evident in the ‘Our Perry Barr’ campaign- which if followed through, could be very successful and worthwhile.

Im yet to find more details on the campaign so I presume that the idea is in its infancy. I for one hope that the MP stays true to his word with this one, as there will be many more people dissapointed by the MP otherwise.

A slow response, but we’re getting there… May 29, 2010

So, in the battle against mortal and MP, the student journalist is finally making some headway.

As some of you may have noticed me complaining about over various online platforms, I’ve been having a little trouble getting in touch with the Birmingham MPs.

My initial goal, as someone supposed to be covering the Ladywood constituency for Birmingham Recycled, was to have a lovely chat with the area’s new Labour MP Shabana Mahmood obtaining lots of info for a nice lengthy article about how she stands on Labour’s environmental policies.

This seems to be a lost cause however. After many, many emails, I plan to ring the MP and if nothing comes of that, I’ll call it a write off.

There does however, appear to be light at the end of the tunnel. In hope of some sort of response from someone important, I contacted several other Birmingham MPs and also a few Ladywood candidates who were not elected on 6th May.

Thus far, just as I was losing all will to continue this email chase, some small rays of hope shone through my hotmail inbox…

A reply from Dominic Fisher, the Chariman of the Ladywood Tories, was noteworthy. He was refreshingly helpful.

He couldn’t tell me much about Ms. Mahmood and her campaigns but did give me lots of info on the various conservative environmental initiatives in the constituency.

He provided me with some text from a leaflet put out in Ladywood in Summer 2009.

He told me,

‘The entire theme is on recycling, involved me working closely with Birmingham Council Recycling Department and was to try to advertise to residents that they can recycle and help us to meet green targets.’

‘VOTE BLUE – GO GREEN

As part of caring for the local environment, Conservative-run
Birmingham Council has extended recycling to all flats. Many city
centre apartments have recently had facilities installed.
Has yours got it yet? If so, let us know how it’s going? If not, mail
recycling@birmingham.gov.uk to set up an appointment.

SOME MOST EXCELLENT GREEN FACTS ABOUT BRUM!

Birmingham recycles more waste than it sends to landfill.
Cleaning Council awarded 5 STARS for the excellence of city cleaning.
The council  is 10% ahead of its recycling targets.

2. In terms of the environment, Soho ward has particular issues. Our Soho local ward candidate, Robert Higginson, has been working on several related campaigns which appear to have been neglected by the serving councillor. The one that stands out is a waste company which was based in a semi-residential area (!) which has left its site abandoned causing terrible pollution. We have made the relevant council department and environmental services aware of this issue. Soho has a real problem with dumping and littering which Robert has also been working hard on. Across the ward, Robert is also campaigning for better use of derelict land and green spaces.

3. We have been promoting the effective use of green space across Ladywood and Nechells too. For example, you may be aware of some neglected playing fields on Bath Row. Our local council candidate, Sharon Pennant, has been working closely with local residents, asset management and the regeneration team and community groups to try to see that the open space is both retained and put into use that benefits the community.

4. As an association we are looking forward to our party conference which will take place in October at the ICC and is of course a chance for us to showcase local projects. One that I want to highlight is where the Tory-led council has been persuaded to hand over council-owned land to the local community giving them the opportunity to maintain the land themselves. In this case an allotment is planned as are opportunities for previously unemployed residents to be part of the maintenance crew. I hope you will agree with me that community engagement and localism are fundamentally environmentally friendly concepts.

5. There are several initiatives which support the greening Ladywood. For example, Optima make awards for the best gardens – several near the top of Cregoe Street for example are excellent.

Some interesting points; I will be sure to bring these up with Shabana Mahmood if I ever get through to the Ladywood MP.

And in other hopeful news, active political Birmingham Tweeter and member of the Labour Party Waseem Zaffar (@WaseemZaffar) picked up on my mention of contacting a few other MPs in Birmingham.

This included Khalid Mahmood, the new Labour MP in the Perry Barr constituency. Waseem has kindly got the Perry Barr Labour staff to respond to me which I should expect to recieve on Tuesday.

It will be interesting to see what the Perry Barr MP has to say on environmental issues. According to his voting record on ‘Public Whip’ he ‘voted moderately against laws to stop climate change.’ I was a little confused by this and whether he believes that stopping climate change is a worthwhile issue.

We’ll have to see!