Working to protect and enhance the Lickey Hills and their environs
Closure of the Visitor Centre Café
30th Jun 2024
The café at the Visitor Centre in Warren Lane will be closing on Sunday 30th June. The café owners have decided to move on and they will certainly be missed – we thank them and wish them well in their future endeavours. There are parties interested in taking over the café but a tendering process will have to be undertaken. This will no doubt take time.
The toilets and information point at the Centre will still be available but visitors will need to provide their own refreshments for the time being.
Bilberry Wake Cancellation
29th Jun 2024
Regrettably the Bilberry Wake which was due to take place on Sunday 7 July has had to be cancelled. The Wake is a Ranger event which has always been supported by the Society. Due to the reorganisation of the Ranger Service (see below), the Rangers are unable to lead the event this year and therefore they have had to cancel. This is disappointing but reflects the changes under which the Rangers are now operating.
Reorganisation of the Ranger Service
29th Jun 2024
Due to Birmingham’s financial situation, cuts are taking place to the city’s Ranger Service. The Service once had 32 ranger posts and that has been reduced to 20 and 7 vacant posts have been frozen.
The latest information that the Society has received from Birmingham’s Director of Streetscene and Parks contains further bad news. In future the Ranger Service will be re-focussing on carrying out Health and Safety Risk Assessment Inspections, Tree Inspections and Reservoir Inspections.
New, targeted delivery of Ranger activities will now focus on 46 parks in the most deprived Wards of the city using time limited funding from Public Health funds.
In practice, these changes will mean that the level of support given by the Ranger Service to groups such as the Society and volunteer groups across the city will be greatly reduced. This change means that Rangers are no longer able to support and in some cases work with volunteer groups. The Society’s practical activities in the Country Park, the weekly walks, the Balsam Bashes and the litter picks are unlikely to be adversely affected. However, the loss of Ranger support will have a massive impact on volunteer groups like the Habitat Heroes.
Society Chair, Mike Brooke has pre-recorded an interview with Radio WM on the reorganisation of the Ranger Service and the likely impact on the Country Park. One of several points made by Mike related to public safety if no Rangers are present in the Visitor Centre. Accidents do happen and on many occasions, the Rangers are first on the scene to offer help. When major accidents occur, the Rangers are there to support the Emergency Services, example guiding ambulances to appropriate locations.
Hopefully, the impact of the cuts to the Ranger Service will not be as dramatic as they appear at the moment, only time will tell.
© 2024 The Lickey Hills Society