Once lovely area has gone downhill

DEAR Editor, It is council election time and through our letterboxes have been streaming more of the circulars filled with those diatribes and platitudes that trip so readily to the pens and tongues of our local representatives.

Bournbrook is represented by two Labour councillors, Brigid Jones, elected in 2011, and Deputy Council Leader since 2017, and Karen McCarthy, who joined the council in 2012.

Ten years ago it was not considered possible that the state and appearance of our suburb could deteriorate any further, but time and the stewardship of Cllrs Jones and McCarthy have proved just how wrong such predictions were.

Lines of overfilled, insanitary dustbins have become a permanent feature of our pavements and our now-hazardous roads are choked with parked cars, a state of affairs that has earned a £160 surcharge on insurance premiums.

No provision is made for long-term residents, often elderly or infirm, who are regularly obliged to park their cars in neighbouring streets and carry heavy shopping to their homes.

To be sure, there are community wardens but the back-up from council and police, which their work to bring about a cleaner and safer environment needs, is woefully lacking.

Every council facility seems to be afforded to absentee landlords and property developers in distorting the local architectural landscape with over-large and intrusive extensions.

Objections by long-term residents are disregarded, while their sense of alienation and isolation continues to grow.

Feelings of shame at what a once-lovely neighbourhood has become, is a strong disincentive to inviting friends here, and seeing their invariable reactions of shock and disbelief.

Remedying this state of affairs hardly requires the possession of a degree in rocket science, but for the duration of their decadelong tenure of office, Cllrs Jones and McCarthy seem to have succeeded in averting their eyes from the scene of increasing squalor and degradation that they have presided over. Barry Francis, Selly Oak,

Birmingham