Good afternoon readers — here is your Monday briefing.
We’re glad to be back in your inboxes following a brief hiatus. It’s a shame our first issue comes following a hair-raising final in the Euros and a defeat for England – more on that and the local legends that made a splash in today’s Brum in brief.
Our big story today covers the news that Birmingham is one of the least “walkable” cities in the world — with the most car commutes outside of North America. All the details on that below.
Staying on theme, our photo of the week features an inner-city cyclist and we have news of delays to major transport projects in the region. Elsewhere, the recently ousted former MP for Perry Barr has claimed he faced intimidation during the General Election campaign.
Coming up in the week ahead, we’ve got two Digbeth themed features for you. One focuses on the bar for reluctant locals run by a man who doesn’t like Birmingham, and the other looks at the changing face of the area: as developers move in, are we about to lose one of the city’s cultural gems? Look out for those and, as always, send us any tips you might have to: editor@birminghamdispatch.co.uk
Editor’s note: I’m feeling refreshed after some time off in the Greek sunshine, and ready to get back to reporting on this city. In future we hope to be able to keep our articles coming through rain, shine and staff holidays — you can help us to do that by becoming a member today. With your support, we can continue to grow The Dispatch and take on bigger and bigger stories.
Weather
🌧️Tuesday: Continuing in the same damp vein, light rain and noticeable breeze. Max 19°C
⛅Wednesday: It’s getting warmer — and drier. A balmy day with a soothing breeze. Max 22°C
☁️Thursday: Still warm but no midweek sun today. Consistent cloud cover. Max 21°C
🌥️Friday: A pleasant end to the week. Sunny in patches and dry. Max 22°C
🌧️Weekend: Unfortunately a soggy weekend. Wet and breezy on both days. Max 19°C
We get our weather from the Met Office.
Big story: Birmingham: The world’s 658th most walkable city!
Top line: Birmingham is the “least active city” outside of North America, according to a new study by the research centre Complexity Science Hub, one of the largest of its kind.
Context: Researchers studied the transport habits of around 850m people from 794 cities across the world. They looked at more than 1,000 surveys conducted before 2019 (avoiding the pandemic lockdowns) to find out where people use the most active forms of travel — that’s walking and cycling.
League table: The research was written up in The Economist, which listed the cities from most to least active. Birmingham comes in at number 658 — the lowest anywhere outside of North America — with just 2% of the city’s 1.1m people travelling to work via active modes of transport.
The Germans do it better: By comparison, in the German city of Cologne, which also has a population of 1.1m, 44% of the population uses active transport.
Key overall trends include that larger cities are less active than smaller cities, where travel distances are typically shorter and it’s easier to get about by foot or bike. Income also has an impact — more car journeys are undertaken in richer cities. In fact, the results show that doubling a city's income is associated with 37% more car journeys.
Carma: However, as The Economist article points out, governments in wealthy parts of the world are turning increasingly car-phobic and looking for cheaper, healthier and greener options.
“Even America appears to be slowly changing: younger generations are driving less and more cities are building walkable neighbourhoods…Though it will be difficult to connect sprawling suburbs in places where cars have shaped urban planning.”
We’ve seen this in Birmingham, where attempts to reduce traffic using Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTN) and congestion charges have been controversial. If Birmingham wants to climb up that league table, the city will have to make walking and cycling more attractive, without making it harder for disabled people to move about (a common criticism of LTNs).
Cui bono? Dr John Munro, historian and member of the campaign group Better Streets for Birmingham, says the question for him is always “who benefits” from any given way of arranging public space. He told The Dispatch:
“A great many people, some of them disabled, clearly don't benefit from transport systems that prioritize only people who own cars. And Birmingham has now been recognized as a city that does that more than almost every other city.”
Photo of the week
This framing from local photographer Mac McCreery is a reminder that, despite disappointment in the Euros, other sports do exist — and that it ain’t so bad. All thanks to a lovely shot of a cyclist taking a well-earned break in central Brum.
Brum in brief
⚽Euros heartbreak: England’s Euro 2024 run ended in final heartbreak (for the second time in three years) as Spain dispatched the Three Lions with two goals either side of a Cole Palmer wonder strike. Unfortunately, this puts an end to our obsession (only a minor one) with how the Birmingham and Black Country-affiliated lads performed throughout the tournament. While both Stourbridge-born Jude Bellingham and Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins — an honourary Brummie — both got onto the pitch in yesterday’s Berlin final, neither was able to affect the outcome. That said, both have fair claim to two of England’s best moments in the tournament with last-minute goals to extend the team’s run. North America 2026 it is then!
🚆Transport delay: Completion of the city’s much-talked-about Camp Hill train line, as well as the initial phase of the Wednesbury to Brierley Hill extension, have been pushed back to next year. The Camp Hill line was originally slated to be completed in 2023 but has now been pushed back until 2025, with the Black Country extension potentially not being completed until 2026. Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) blamed rising costs for the delay, which will also impact other travel projects across the region. Anne Shaw, executive director at TfWM, said: “Nothing is being cancelled, we [sic] just deferring some of the start times and some of the construction.” Full story.
🗳️Election intimidation claims: Former Labour MP Khalid Mahmood, who held the Perry Barr parliamentary seat from 2001 to 2024 before losing it to independent candidate Ayoub Khan last month, has alleged that intimidation took place during the election campaign on his old patch. Speaking to Lewis Goodall on LBC, he said: “People were harassing people who were going out [canvassing], people pushing them away, taking leaflets off them and tearing them up,” he said. Full interview clip from LBC’s X profile.
Home of the week
This three-bedroom barn conversion has an open-plan kitchen that is made for house parties. It’s available to hedonists and homebodies alike for £545,000.
Media picks
🎧Over the weekend, BBC Radio 4 ran a profile of the MP at the heart of one of the most closely followed campaigns in Birmingham. Shabana Mahmood was reelected with just 15,558 votes (compared to 33,355 in 2019) and is now the new Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice.
💻If the weather and football have you down and you’re in need for a bit of a pick me up, check out Joe Lycett’s handy compilation of Birmingham stories — clips from his stand-up shows about the best city in the world.
Things to do
Tuesday
🎤If you want to banish your Euros blues then global superstar (and GRAMMY winner) Megan Thee Stallion is entertaining with her Hot Girl Summer tour at the Utilita Arena for two nights only. Details at a click.
🎲Calling all Dungeons and Dragons fans: a new dungeon master is awaiting you at Cherry Reds. For lovers of adventure and board games, click through here.
Wednesday
🎭If you’re desperate to get a little taste of what’s on offer at this Autumn’s performance arts celebration Fierce Festival, head down to Black Box Theatre for the programme launch at 6 pm. Full details.
🦋Horticulturalists can hear more about the Botanical Gardens archives at this talk for just a £5 entry fee. More here
🎹Schubert’s Lieder — the songs he wrote for just a singer and a pianist — will be performed at Birmingham Town Hall at 7.30pm courtesy of City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO). Tickets from £26.
Thursday
📖Head over to Wolverhampton’s Newhampton Arts Centre for a night with Len Cabral, the Rhode Island storyteller with chops who will tell eerie traditional tales for adults. Full details.
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