Ep. 12 – Grassroots activism in Tyseley

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https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/better-streets-for-birmingham/id1867451510?i=1000763720922
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1EEpGGNNA01NbTlXQ6n9MU?si=X0zyuJhXQW6kq8Slt2JMow

Farina Chaudri shares her community’s fight for safer streets in Birmingham after tragic events, highlighting grassroots activism, challenges with local authorities, and ongoing campaigns for infrastructure improvements.

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Transcript

Kevin Carmody (00:05)
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Better Streets for Birmingham podcast. Today I’m talking with Farina Chaudri of the Friends of Reddings Lane Park group I wonder if you could take us back to 2021.

to what happened in Reddings Lane and what made you personally decide that you couldn’t move on for that and you wanted to campaign

Farina (00:25)
Right, so in 2021, ⁓ I at the time was working from home and pretty much I can still remember the day where we had, ⁓ you know, ⁓ the air ambulance come and park up at the park. ⁓ And it was absolute a lot of chaos, basically, ⁓ outside. Essentially, what happened was ⁓ a young child of three, her name was Maysoon, Abdul Hakeem, was crossing the zebra crossing with a little bike with her mom.

⁓ Unfortunately, got hit by ⁓ an individual, a young driver. Unfortunately, she passed away with ⁓ injuries. ⁓ We have had a lot since 2021. We’ve had petitions by local residents. We have a local resident who is also an activist, Anshad. We’ve had lots of ⁓ GoFundMe pages that were opened.

the community since quite drastically actually. ⁓ So since then ⁓ up till now we’ve been campaigning whether it’s joining Better Streets for Birmingham, having now so far about two years of ⁓ meetings with the councilors as well ⁓ and we’ve had lots of residents involved as well here and there because we’ve had quite a few accidents since Shafmore Lane is such an example and the most recent being Foxhollies

Road in Hall Green as well.

Kevin Carmody (01:57)
Yeah, yeah. What’s the mood in the community? I mean how much is this kind of bringing the community together? And I guess as well, what you’ve been trying to achieve within the community.

Farina (02:09)
Yeah, there’s a bit of ⁓ a mixture in the community because obviously we’ve got, ⁓ it’s obvious to me of course not necessarily to everyone else, but there are three schools particularly on this particular stretch of roads that connects Warwick Road all the way to Strafford Road. So it’s a bit of a connecting road. ⁓

to several areas and the mood around the community really is that we don’t want our children to walk to school ⁓ in essence when actually the plan within Birmingham is to make it more active, to make us more active, to ideally move away from, slowly move away from cars where you can of course, ⁓ know, encourage bike riding

The parents that have been part of the protests we’ve had as well, I think it was in 2024, we’ve had lots of stories from them around not wanting the kids to be walking on the streets as well. So it’s been quite discouraging rather than, you know.

hopefully trying to encourage people to become a bit more active and get off their cars. But yeah, I think it’s knocked people in terms of confidence. And obviously we know in Birmingham, just generally, or rather England, particularly I would say Birmingham, because you know when you’re driving into Birmingham as well, if you’re coming off the motorway, that you’ve hit Birmingham because the driving is absolutely shocking.

Kevin Carmody (03:42)
number of people killed on the roads in the city, we see on average a little over 20 people killed a year in the city, it’s increasingly happening to pedestrians, increasingly happening on pedestrian crossings.

You know, it’s it’s it’s the shift of even if the cars are getting safe, the people outside of them that certainly aren’t. when did Better Streets first kind of come into your orbit? When did they start getting involved in your community?

Farina (04:10)
That’s a good question. was quite organic. So there were quite a few, you know, lots of accidents, as we all know, and lots of tragedies. And I started going to a few demos myself. And so I started connecting up with Better Streets for Birmingham from that point onwards. And obviously, you know,

I do say obviously it’s not that obvious, but I did start to join up with a lot of ⁓ protests ⁓ as well. ⁓ It kind of rolled, literally rolled over from that point onwards and a number of local residents started getting involved as well. ⁓ And then as part of the Friends of Reddings Lane Park, we started stretching out, ⁓ you know, essentially what we were.

trying to do in the local area. So rather than just the park, we’ve grown a little bit since then. And then we’ve also been obviously interviewed by Sarah as well, who’s put out a very fantastic documentary in Birmingham that a number of us visited and watched last year in 2025.

Kevin Carmody (05:24)
So you I mean you had you know several members of Better Streets for Birmimgham as well They were always there at your campaigns with you and they were Coming along with to meet councillors with you and kind of help trying to help you push forward I mean How much of a meaningful impact is that to have people who will do more than just kind of tweeting? guess you know more you know kind of showing up

Farina (05:49)
Yeah, it’s a good point you made. Sometimes you forget what you do on a daily basis. So it’s been almost 18 months of having regular meetings with three schools here.

together with Better Streets for Birmingham and on every meeting we’ve had a representative from Better Streets from Birmingham. It’s been absolutely fantastic having you know you all on on the either the meetings face to face when we first started. I think it’s a subject matter expertise of what’s actually going on wider and also understanding the plans that Birmingham is putting in place the you know what’s coming through the cabinet members.

and some in our seat local residents here don’t necessarily get involved at that level. all of us get involved in that level. So bringing that subject matter expertise into those meetings and joining up the dots has really, really helped and continues to help, of course. It also helps to put a little more pressure around what funding is available and what we can do with that funding of which again, know, necessarily

residents also are aware of the funding that they can activate and pressure their councillors to do something about it. was the ETNF funding that came through in, I think it was 2024 as well, that has been now used by default for speed humps on Foreman’s Road that were put in place this week, actually, coincidentally.

Kevin Carmody (07:22)
Okay. Yeah, so I know you had, I’m going say Better Streets generally, but I mean, we’ve mentioned Sarah, Kirsten DeVos, and of course, Mat MacDonald who then went on to become the, I think the first road safety commissioner in the UK, but the West Midlands road safety commissioner. I mean, it’s part of something bigger then isn’t it? And yeah.

Farina (07:37)
Indeed.

Yeah, no, indeed.

Yeah, indeed. I mean, we’ve since been to ⁓ Hall Green ⁓ protests as well. I personally would ⁓ love to be part of the regular meetings as well. Unfortunately for me, you know, it’s a time constraint issue. But I think having such a, you know. ⁓

a group of individuals that can come together and affect change is certainly stronger than just a couple of people here and there in certain areas. ⁓ I myself noticed that and realized that much earlier on that we had pockets of individuals on the street that may have about 200 plus, you know, have homes on the street, just alone on the street. And just joining up is, I think, creates that momentum that you need to make change and affect change.

Kevin Carmody (08:40)
So you said we’re looking at the ETNF funding is going to be providing speed bumps on Foreman’s Road. mean, is this what you campaigned for? Is this what you were consulted on as a community?

Farina (08:54)
Right, so no, this is not something actually we campaign for weirdly enough. So, about a year ago, we started to get an understanding that these funds were available, you know, certainly also through Better Streets for Birmingham as to how these were used in different wards in different manners. There was a lot of hesitancy from our councillors to use this ⁓ money for, you know, the

Reddings Lane in particular ⁓ and the surrounding roads. Obviously Foreman’s Road is one of them. ⁓

I think by default it’s been used for Foreman’s Road and simply because there were certain timeframes in which that money had to be used and the changes we wanted to make were not necessarily speed bumps but literally infrastructure changes. you know, either creating a one way system or a model filters being introduced on these roads, something a little bit more permanent and significant than just I say just speed bumps because people really now drive over them.

we do find that they’re not as effective as they could have been in the past where the majority of us may not have had massive 4×4 cars basically. I’m not saying a lot of us have that but it’s not as effective in my view.

Kevin Carmody (10:17)
Yeah, so I think it’s been talked about several times there. As you say, it’s larger cars are able to just, you know, go over these things without without even noticing them. It does cause cars to swerve over to sides of the road, which can make it dangerous for other road users. But they are a preferred method for the highways engineers because they’re the lowest impact. And I just want to say this is this is

Farina (10:30)
Mm.

Indeed.

Kevin Carmody (10:46)
a you’ve campaigned for particular measures and then they said no we’re going to do these other measures to you. I mean how does does is that not a frustrating experience within the community?

Farina (11:00)
Yeah, I think it is quite frustrating because a lot of the time the…

I’ll say inverted commas, consultations are not really genuine consultations. They don’t involve residents and basically residents are basically told this is what we’re going to do to you rather than with you. So there isn’t really much in regards to taking into consideration residents’ I guess voices more than anything else. ⁓ We heavily got involved into a school audit actually ⁓ in August last year which was also unfortunately

It was badly planned because as you can imagine, August is when schools are closed and we were trying to fit in a school audit, bang, in the center of summer holidays in a very tight timeframe. So the planning wasn’t particularly well done, but we did heavily get involved in the school audit ⁓ to get views from residents as well around about this whole area, which covers three areas actually, it’s Tisley, Spark Hill and Walgreens.

And I can still remember somebody saying, I’ll tell you one thing, ⁓ the authorities won’t do anything, just leave the street and move on. And there was absolutely no confidence that the authorities ⁓ could make a change ⁓ because they’re not really listening.

Kevin Carmody (12:23)
Because where you are you’re like a convergence of I think about three wards isn’t it? That’s what six plus councillors the representation there is huge for your area They should be able to work together and do something. They should be able to you know, well engage with you as a community I mean is that is that the feeling that you’ve got that has happened?

Farina (12:27)
Three

think generally speaking, would say no, except perhaps one councillor ⁓ who has ⁓ driven the meetings initially. It has been two years of discussion and it’s just unfortunate that they have petered off ⁓ and nothing has come about from it except these speed bumps. I think, first of all, engaging ⁓ about even bare minimum of three councillors from these three wards is absolutely

⁓ challenging for residents ⁓ and you know.

That’s probably one aspect of it. And I guess the second aspect is they’re all fighting for their own wards in terms of funding or particular ways to use that particular funding. In this case, I’m just having a chat about ETNF funding. But there is a lot of more funding available in wards. obviously, they’re protected ⁓ over that as well. But yeah, in essence. ⁓

I just think the default message is always, well, you know, there’s been austerity, we don’t have the money, we can’t really do much with it. And then suddenly something else pops up in a well-to-do area ⁓ and we’re left back, you know, in the center of absolute chaos on roads. you know, and we all know this is not just about… ⁓

know, speeding and, you know, it’s more also about pavement parking and, you know, obstructed parking and as much more that we can, we can talk about it.

Kevin Carmody (14:21)
Okay, so you’re still waiting for the ⁓ audit from the schools audit and We’ve had say the councillors in the area all kind of pulling in different directions and not working together to get these really What’s the impact this? Almost inaction is happening on the community. mean, are they still coming out and on the streets and campaigning?

Farina (14:47)
Yeah, I think there are two aspects to it. One is how do you keep a number of residents or the community in this case motivated? ⁓

throughout these meetings or the activism that takes place. And it’s very difficult to do that. It has petered off, unfortunately, because one, it’s trust. We always talk about let’s trust the process, but actually two years down the line, nothing really has taken place except from having a traffic. I think that they used to be called lollipop ladies, but I know there’s a particular word around

around,

you know, getting the traffic officers on the zebra crossing. That’s the only change that has taken place. ⁓ I think apart from just, you know, keeping ⁓ the community engaged.

Kevin Carmody (15:29)
Yeah, like a crossing guard, yeah?

Farina (15:40)
more than anything else. ⁓ It’s really about also, you know, trusting whether there’s going to be really an outcome. And at this point in time, a lot of people don’t trust that there is going to be any outcome. And as we approach the local elections, as you can imagine, this is now being used as a, you know, as a mechanism of, well, we’ve done, I’m sure, I’m sure at some point there’ll be, you know, some sort of conversation about, well, we’ve got, you know, speed bumps in Foreman’s Road. Look at what we’ve done, what we’ve done for road safety. But actually that’s,

you know, sort of a very, very small little drop in the ocean, if at all.

Kevin Carmody (16:16)
Yeah, they

all getting quickly, you know, rushed out on built just before the election happens.

Farina (16:22)
Indeed, indeed. yeah. But yes, I mean,

just generally, that’s what it is. It’s it’s keeping a community engaged and, you know, trusting, trusting that there will be a change.

Kevin Carmody (16:32)
Yeah.

I mean, you have been very much part of a larger movement within the city. So the city did, you know, on the back of much of the campaigning that you as well as other groups around the city, you know, lot of the campaign that you were doing, did get us the road safety emergency declared by the city council and, you know, the work you were doing with Mat MacDonald got him.

I’m sure his role as the road safety commissioner. I mean, does it does this stuff mean anything on the ground, I guess?

Farina (17:14)
Yes, ⁓ I think when you put it like that it does because now and then you become much of a cynic when it comes to these things. However, when you think about it broadly speaking, think those particular, you know, changes that have taken place there, there are small changes ⁓ and you try to remain as positive as you can. But I just think for the size of the city, the change is too slow.

perhaps. ⁓ you know, for example, we have 30 miles per hour zones here opposite three very crucial ⁓ junction with three schools, for example. And ⁓ we’ve obviously made those changes just generally speaking in Birmingham, certain locations. Has this 30 mile per hour zone had any impact to accidents locally? Absolutely none.

⁓ There has been no enforcement, very little enforcement if at all any. ⁓ So yes, it does sort of leave a bit of a, ⁓ I guess, A, you know, there is a space for much more improvement, but actually not enough is being done ⁓ with that. And I’m very happy, you know, that Matt’s had the post because he’s very, very, I would say informed and he knows all.

what’s happening locally as well and how communities feel. And we worked a lot with him as well. So yes, there are small little changes happening, perhaps it’s about the speed at which we expect it to happen and how it impacts us locally.

Kevin Carmody (18:59)
Yeah, of course. You know, one role is not a wholesale change in direction of the administration.

Farina (19:06)
Yeah, and I believe it’s

a part volunteering role as well, if I’m not mistaken. So it is just a. Yeah. ⁓

Kevin Carmody (19:11)
Yeah, think he’s paid

a day a week or something. On top of his job as a doctor.

Farina (19:16)
Yeah, I just think it’s if it’s that important,

indeed, indeed. Yeah, I mean, if it’s that important of a, ⁓ you know, ⁓ I’ll say an agenda for the local authorities, then ⁓ I think they should be pumping in a little bit more resource into this. ⁓ But yeah, I’m not I’m not entirely convinced. think.

yeah, generally speaking, yeah, I think it’s a bit slow in terms of the impact that we perhaps need locally. ⁓

Kevin Carmody (19:50)
Yeah, and there’s a

requirement for bold leadership. The council’s own Road Harm Reduction Strategy recognised that the kind of small changes, know, just a junction here has, which is what they’ve been doing since 2016, has had no effect in reducing the amount of casualties we see on our roads. And the only things that will have an effect are larger scale schemes, you know, which I know is some of things that you’ve been campaigning for.

where does the campaign go from here?

Farina (20:25)
So, good question. So, I have been chasing our local councillors on the outcome of the school audit. ⁓ However, to be honest, that’s not how we actually started off the meetings. The meetings were more around the community and road safety, because there are a number of accidents that do take place but don’t get recorded ⁓ as well. So, ⁓

It morphed essentially into school safe school safety and you know, reducing road harm. ⁓ safety harm, so I think that’s one of the expectations. ⁓ I don’t think I have been thinking about this lately. I don’t think that’s enough. ⁓ I think we need to start thinking a little bit outside the box yet again. ⁓ I think there is a local community ⁓ movement around getting.

you know, cameras everywhere. We’ve engaged with schools. We are at the stage now, we can’t engage any further because they haven’t seen anything come out of the 18 months of meeting with them.

⁓ Trying to re-engage with them, perhaps depending on who the councillors may be in post May, we may have to reinvest some further energy into that. ⁓ And consistently work with Better Streets for Birmingham as well. But yeah, we’re still chasing on an outcome from the school audit ⁓ in the meantime. And we have been also asking for lots of enforcement ⁓ as well ⁓ in the meantime, which hasn’t really.

had any impact yet.

Kevin Carmody (22:07)
So the elections may well bring in a new group of people who are keen to make a change.

Farina (22:17)
Yeah, no, I hope so.

hope so. ⁓ And, you know, we do know that there is a little bit more, you know, money in the system. It’s not always money as well. It’s really about, you know, the community coming together to actually pressure your local councillor. So I would ask if any of the community is watching this, please do take part in affecting change. ⁓

try to stay as resilient as we can because changes can never take place in a short period of time, I guess.

Kevin Carmody (22:50)
I think

it’s so important for people within their communities to say these are the changes that we need rather than waiting for the council or the regional authority or something to say this is what we think should happen in your community. It’s your community, isn’t it?

Farina (23:08)
Indeed,

indeed.

Kevin Carmody (23:11)
Okay, well, Farina, thank you very much for your time. I really appreciate you talking us through what’s happening over in Redding’s Lane. And I wish you and all of us the best come the new administration.

Farina (23:24)
Thanks, Kevin. And yeah, we’ll continue working with you all ⁓ for the next couple of years, I hope. All right, thanks.

Kevin Carmody (23:33)
Yeah, absolutely. All right. Thanks a lot.