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Peace Gardens

I emailed Councillor Kath Hartley, Councillor for Ladywood re St. Thomas Peace Gardens and the regeneration of same. Here is my e-mail and
Ms. Hartley's response today. Ms. Hartley has sent an e-mail containing my message to Councillor Carl Rice also a Councillor for Ladywood who must be connected to the project. My e-mail addy has been removed from this post by myself but will appear on Mr. Rice's e-mail.


To: Councillor Carl Rice <[email protected]>
CC: To myself
Subject: FW: St.Thomas-Peace Garden Regeneration Project
Thread-Topic: St.Thomas-Peace Garden Regeneration Project

Date: Sun, 12 Jan 2014 14:30:08 +0000

[email protected]

From: Councillor Kath Hartley <[email protected]>
To: Councillor Carl Rice <[email protected]>
CC: to my e-mail
Subject: FW: St.Thomas-Peace Garden Regeneration Project
Thread-Topic: St.Thomas-Peace Garden Regeneration Project

Date: Sun, 12 Jan 2014 14:30:08 +0000


Carl, did you get an update on St. Thomas Church/Peace Gardens, please? If the work to the masonry has been done back in August as we were assured, why is the fencing still there and why haven't the undergrowth and over grown trees/shrubs been removed?
________________________________________
From: Jennifer Nicol

Sent: 11 January 2014 22:26
To: Councillor Kath Hartley
Subject: St.Thomas-Peace Garden Regeneration Project

Dear Ms Hartley:
I am looking for an update on the plans for the regeneration of this
site. As an advocate for the restoration of
St. Thomas-Peace Gardens, you must be frustrated by the plans for
regenerationj being on again/off again over the past few years, the
consequence of which means
nothing much has been achieved to restore the site. This week the
BBC announced that workmen were working at the site. Does that mean that
a full restoration is planned now?

I am a long time member of the Birmingham History Forum online and so
many members are concerned about what is happening. I also know that many
citizens are also wondering about the site's future.

Thank you for your attention Ms Hartley it is very much appreciated.

Sincerely, Jennifer Nicol - Concerned Brummie

***********************************************************************


***********************************************************************


***********************************************************************
 
Was happy to receive an e-mail from Councillor Carl Rice (Ladywood) today regarding the renovations(clear up and fence removal) to the Peace Gardens.
This e-mail is accompanied y e-mail Coun. Rice sent to other people in BCC who are involved in the project. I am posting these here also. I will send Coun. Rice an e-mail thanking him for getting back to me on this:
******************************************************************************************
From: Councillor Carl Rice <[email protected]>
To: "Bonas, Sheila (Dr.) ([email protected])" <[email protected]>,
"[email protected]" <[email protected]>
CC: "Kath Hartley ([email protected])" <[email protected]>,
Councillor Albert Bore <[email protected]>
Subject: FW: St Thomas Church
Thread-Topic: St Thomas Church
Thread-Index: Ac83n9jPQCcdKCttQTKnCMnwbSVX+ACdU6CAAAFSoIAAAArD4A==
Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2014 15:35:31 +0000
Accept-Language: en-GB, en-US
X-MS-Has-Attach: yes
X-MS-TNEF-Correlator:
x-originating-ip: [10.79.26.24]

Hooray!

From: Robin Bryan
Sent: Friday, March 07, 2014 3:32 PM
To: Councillor Carl Rice; Peter Ryans
Cc: Lee Southall
Subject: RE: St Thomas Church




Hi Councillor,

Just to confirm we have been working on the grounds works, this should have been completed by today.

I will check out and confirm

Kind regards


Robin Bryan
Constituency Parks & Customer Liaison Manager
Parks & Nature Conservation
Birmingham City Council
House of Sport
300 Broad Street, Birmingham B1 1TZ
Tel: 0121 464 0448

Visit us at www.birmingham.gov.uk/parks

Helping make Birmingham a cleaner, greener and smarter City.



From: Councillor Carl Rice
Sent: Friday, March 07, 2014 2:56 PM
To: Peter Ryans
Cc: Lee Southall; Robin Bryan
Subject: RE: St Thomas Church




Dear Peter

I plan to visit the site on Tuesday, 11[SUP]th[/SUP] March 2014 and do hope it will be cleaned up by then!

Regards

Carl


From: Peter Ryans
Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2014 11:50 AM
To: Councillor Carl Rice
Cc: John Blakemore
Subject: St Thomas Church




Councillor Rice

I apologise for the delay in responding to you regarding the fencing at St Thomas Church in the Peace Garden.

The Church is in the portfolio of structures within Highways, but the maintenance is carried out by Acivico. The work was completed four weeks ago and I have chased up the removal of the fencing on a weekly basis. Last week I escalated upwards within Acivico the difficulty I was experiencing in having the fencing removed, I was informed they would investigate the problem and assured me that the fencing would be removed on the
3 March 2014, which it was.

I will now contact the appropriate people to complete the ground maintenance work that is required around the Church.

Once again I apologise for the delay in responding to you.

Regards,

Peter

Peter Ryans
Services Manager,
Highways Services
1 Lancaster Circus, Queensway
Birmingham
B4 7DQ
 
Final update on the renovations to the St. Thomas Tower and the Peace Garden itself. I heard from Councillor Carl Rice today via this e-mail.

"Dear Jennifer


I so sorry - I thought I had notified everyone who contacted me about this issue. I am delighted to say that all the work to the Peace Garden has been completed and the barriers removed.

I visited a few weeks ago and St Thomas's was looking fantastic.

Regards

Carl "


Be nice to get some photos of the changes. I e-mailed Carl back as follows:"

Dear Carl:

That is such good news and I thank you very much for your efforts at advising me and, therefore, the Birmingham Forum Members and Facebook contributors
about the St. Thomas Peace Garden. This site is in so many ways an important one to Birmingham citizens far and wide. I realize that there are many older buildings at risk in the city
that cannot be renovated without private backing, etc. Thank goodness the Grand Hotel is finally being renovated. This will once more become a jewel in Birmingham's crown when the renovations are completed. Can you please tell me who to contact regarding the Golden Lion project in Cannon Hill Park?There doesn't seem to be any updates on-line for at least two years. Just an update is all a lot of people want as to what is happening.

Thanks again.

Best from Jennifer Nicol "
 
Last edited:
That's very good news Jennyann. Thanks for following this up. Glad that the remains of the church and the surrounding gardens are being properly cared for. Well worth the investment of time and money. Any up to date photos very welcome if any members are in that area. Viv.
 
same here jenny thanks for keeping up with what is going on at the peace gardens..have to admit i have never been there but i shall now be paying a visit when time permits...

lyn x
 
no location but sure these are of the peace gardens broad st before they were moved..dated 1989

img146.jpg img147.jpg
 
The Colonnade when it was in Broad Street. I appreciate the fact that this was removed (rather than demolished) and rebuilt at St Thomas's - now called the Peace Garden. But didn't it look great from this angle on Broad Street with the Civic Centre in the background. But we must be thankful for small mercies when it comes to preserving buildings with heritage. At least it's survived the City Centre developments. Viv.

image.jpeg
 
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