Cllr Simon Ward, the leader of Royal Sutton Coldfield Town Council, delivers a message to those who live and work in the Sutton Coldfield area.

The Annual Meeting of the Town Council last week gave a great opportunity to update those in attendance on the last three months activity for the Town Council. An important meeting, it marked the passing of the Mayoral baton from Cllr David Allan to Cllr Jane Mosson. I would like to take this opportunity to record my personal thanks to David and his wife Linda for a year of truly impressive civic service and welcome Jane to the role.

Over the last three months I have written about the work of the Town Council in responding to the challenges of COVID-19 across the Town and this, of course, continues but it is important to share that update for residents who didn’t join us via Zoom (noting that all residents are welcome at all public meetings!).

Work on the new Town Centre Masterplan has continued and this will be ready by August. In addition the Council has been working closely with the BID and Birmingham City Council to ensure the opening of non-essential retail on 15 June will be safe and successful. We are working with the BID to create a new and exciting ‘What’s On Sutton Coldfield’ brand to promote events and the Town Centre generally. We want to expand this across the Town; for too long our Royal Town has not had the prominence it deserves as a great place to live and work.

On travel and access, our Town the Council is also working with BCC around cycling and pedestrian improvements through various national funds. We believe that the challenges around public transport during the pandemic create an opportunity to kick start some exciting changes.

On a day-to-day level the Council staff have moved seamlessly to remote working while all meetings are now accessible via Zoom. The asset transfers of Vesey Gardens and the War Memorial in Walmley are progressing as is the installation of a trim trail at Harvest Fields.

The pause in publishing of our Royal Sutton Coldfield Observer has been another worrying feature of the last 12 weeks. This means the Town Council will work even harder to communicate with residents via traditional and social media – we look forward to sharing progress on this in coming weeks.

As ever, if you have any concerns or questions to raise, please contact me at simon.ward@suttoncolldfieldtowncouncil.gov.uk.