Judicial review outcome

The judicial review that we submitted challenging the lack of consultation and use of a single bidder process was refused.

Our first reflection is that there is clearly a difference between what is legal versus what should be legal. It should not be legal to draw a line around an area with homes, businesses and churches, and select a luxury developer to knock down these places, without consulting the people who live in and love these places. Unfortunately, it appears this is legal, although we do understand the decision of the judge.

Second, we continue to question people’s descriptions of the Ladywood regeneration zone as a deprived area. Most the door knocking we have done in Phases 1 and 2 has revealed good quality housing. It is obvious from Census 2021 data that substantial parts of the Ladywood regeneration zone are not deprived.

We believe the Ladywood regeneration zone has been selected without showing respect to the residents. There are many areas of Birmingham in more need of regeneration than Ladywood. However, if we do regenerate Ladywood it should happen with the residents not to the residents.

Finally, we firmly believe that more bidders should have been involved to make it a more competitive process. This would have promoted better outcomes for the people of Ladywood through market competition. The regeneration zone line should have been re-drawn to make it attractive to more bidders. We know one bidder pulled out because they found the scheme not to be viable. We know that single bidding is not best practice. The scheme should have been modified to be more viable and encourage more bidders.

We will continue to fight the unethical practices by Birmingham City Council in relation to the Ladywood regeneration scheme. Donate to our legal fund.