Gardens idea for old ballroom site
DEAR Editor, Re. ‘Last dance for Tower
Ballroom as it makes way for homes’ (Post, November 3), local residents have not ‘for months campaigned for the building to be saved’.
The building went well past its sell by date several years ago.
It has been vandalised and misused ever since the firm who were leasing it reneged on their lease, which therefore reverted to Birmingham City Council who, as I stated in my last letter, decided to attempt to reclassify the land for brownfield [housing] use. Since they cannot do this due to the terms of the lease which does not run out for a few years yet, they are obviously stringing matters out for as long as possible.
The land has been designated for public recreation for the last 199 years, a bit longer than your reporter saw fit to state.
Nobody is objecting to the proposed plans for redevelopment of the area outside the reservoir boundary, only for the now nine houses [or 18 flats] proposed for the site to be constructed over commercial premises, incidentally which designation Birmingham City Council appear to have omitted from their attempts at redesignating the land.
There are no parking areas proposed for the site and taking into account the slope of the land would well be a major matter to address by any proposed tenant or owner with thoughts of making a profit.
Edgbaston Reservoir Collaborative (ERCO) has prepared an alternative plan for ‘greening up’ the land which would perpetuate the present classification of recreational use by all of the thousands of users of the reservoir.
Next year, ERCO would like to name the area the Bicentenary Gardens to celebrate 200 years of this use.
Demolition work is going on and what should emerge at some point is perhaps some beautiful ironwork made by E.C.& J Keay Ltd when the skating rink was constructed. But then again who knows what may be covered up as its discovery may delay the demolition.
An archaeological report was carried out on the site but apparently was ‘binned’. It would be interesting to read it.
Not just ERCO but all local residents will continue to fight for any proposed development of the area to be re-thought by Birmingham City Council and any inaccurate reporting on the subject will in no way help this.
Ann Levitt, by email