Hall Green Ward
Councillors Michael Wilkes, Jackie Hawthorn and Paula Smith are Liberal Democrats and represent Hall Green Ward on Birmingham City Council.
A ward is a local government unit the boundaries of which are set by the Electoral Commission. The ward is slightly different from Hall Green postal district (B28) or the area covered by the Hall Green Residents Association which follows B28 into Acocks Green Ward. The map below shows Hall Green Ward following the 2004 boundary review.
Birmingham City Council is the largest local authority in Europe and so wards in Birmingham are very large - larger than any others in the country - each one having three councillors. Hall Green Ward has over 10,000 homes (this is how many copies of each Focus have to be delivered!). Parliamentary constituencies are made up of wards and Hall Green Parliamentary Constituency is four times the size of Hall Green Ward. The constituency also includes Moseley and Kings Heath Ward, Springfield Ward and Sparkbrook Ward.
All three councillors in M&KH are Liberal Democrats as are two of the three Springfield Councillors. So Liberal Democrats have an overall majority of 8 out of 12 Councillors on the Hall Green Constituency Committee. Both the constituency and the ward have powers devolved from the full City Council. The pace of devolution has been painfully slow and most of the business at constituency meetings is formal (receipt of official reports etc).
Of most immediate relevance to Hall Green residents are the powers held at Ward level - principally the annual determination of about £100k of ‘Community Chest’ spending, some £25k for lighting improvements and the location of bulk refuse collections. These and other matters are determined at Ward Committee meetings which residents are encouraged to attend and take part in. The Ward Committee consists of the three councillors. The Ward Advisory Board previews requests for community chest funding. The WAB is made up by invitation of the three ward councillors, representatives from the community, the police, the fire service and other organisations.
