Balsall Heath is Our Planet Blog

A vision of a better neighbourhood

johnnewson — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:05:12 +0000

Balsall Heath’s neighbourhood planning is surging ahead. I was really impressed and excited by the recent community workshop run by Balsall Heath Forum, which saw 40 people who live and or work here spend a day talking through the problems and some solutions.
The Prince’s Foundation sent some community planners to help us make our suggestions into maps, showing; movement, buildings, green space etc. These maps with explanation will be on display soon for everyone to see, and an internet version is to be developed.
People’s ideas aspirations mostly turn out to be very compatible with the Energy Plan from Balsall Heath Is Our Planet. A better neighbourhood and a low energy neighbourhood have many points in common. We want a cleaner, greener and more sustainable place to live for the future, where people have more sense of control.

Energy Plan for our Neighbourhood

johnnewson — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 16:33:40 +0000

The Energy Plan for Balsall Heath has been written. The main points are; firstly to make buildings more energy efficient. The second point is to get on with generating our own electricity from locally available sources. The third point is not using the private car so much.
Energy could also be saved by growing food, storing water and recycling wastes at neighbourhood scale.

The full version is 50 + pages, but a summary is available here.
For the full version ask me John Newson BHIOP[at]jericho.org.uk

MAC Goes Solar

johnnewson — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 13:30:35 +0000

I am delighted to hear that the MAC Midlands Arts Centre in Cannon Hill Park has got planning permission for its new array of solar panels to meet some of the centre’s electricity demand from the Sun. Installation is due in December, hopefully before the Feed In Tariff payment rate takes a step down.

Already up and running is the solar roof array on St Mary’s parish church in the centre of Moseley. They say that 3,000 kilowatt hours have been generated this summer, after their long battle to get planning permission. This will offset some of their electric heating More Details here. The Hamza mosque on Church Road also has a new solar roof, sending clean electricity to the area.

These are the kind of schemes that surely deserve the special ‘community tariff’ which the government is talking about in its Review of the Feed In Tariff details here.

We all have to ‘get a move on’ in the progress towards clean energy, as the World Meteorological Organisation reports that burning of fossil fuels is behind greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere being at their highest ever See Their Report

A Season of Sunshine

johnnewson — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 16:52:56 +0000

Well done to Balsall Heath Church Centre for generating plenty of clean electricity on their roof from the sun and feeding much of it into the local grid for the neighbourhood to use. There is a great display, showing how much has been generated every month at this link

Bike Train to stop at Balsall Heath

johnnewson — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 10:37:13 +0000

We may not have had a railway station for 70 years, but two Bike Trains will be stopping in Balsall Heath on Thursday 22nd September.
Birmingham Friends of the Earth, Sustrans and Push Bikes are organising “Bike Trains” along 5 routes into Birmingham. Two trains will pass through Balsall Heath around 8am.
These are led rides where people cycle in a group to be more visible and for more experienced riders to help the less experienced ones find the best way into the city centre. They aim to create a friendly ‘safety in numbers’ space on the road to enable more people to commute by bike. They don’t intend to hold up other road users. There will be a cyclists’ breakfast at the end of the route in Victoria Square to celebrate World Car Free Day and if it is successful, they hope to make it a regular event. In Brighton the Bike Train runs twice a day, every day.

Please sign up on the Birmingham Friends of the Earth website if you can help lead a ride, or would like to join, whatever your ability: . You can also read more information about the event and see maps of the routes on their website and read about the reasons for cycling to work on their blog:

Neighbourhood Energy Plan

johnnewson — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 13:39:01 +0000

Balsall Heath Is Our Planet has been given an award by Birmingham City Council for “helping to make Birmingham Green” (shown pictured).

Now Balsall Heath is to be one of the first to produce a Neighbourhood Plan under the government’s Localism Bill. The steering group of BHIOP is keen to create a Neighbourhood Energy Plan as an essential aspect of this – designing energy efficiency into our future.

The plan will show how we can protect ourselves from rising fuel prices and also generate our own renewable energy from solar roofs etc. Funds are being applied for to do the work over the coming months.

Our past work with community buildings will be extended. There will be a survey of the housing stock, and we will talk to households. We will look for opportunities to pay for a refit of the buildings for the future.

Any suggestions as to what should be included in the Neighbourhood Energy Plan are very welcome. Contact me; John Newson development officer tel; 0121 440 7919 email bhiop[at]Jericho.org.uk

Open Day for Solar Roof

johnnewson — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 15:23:50 +0000

Congratulations to everyone for the Open Day at Balsall Heath Church Centre on Saturday (9th April). We had a really full tour and explanation from eco architect and congregation member John Christophers. People saw a slideshow of the building process; also a mock up of the monitor dashboard that will display how the solar roof is performing. Thanks to Gaynor Mokrysz of Alumasc for donating the smart new laptop on which it appeared.
Now every building in the neighbourhood is getting a little of the church’s solar eletricity, as it feeds into the grid.
Those who came were surely inspired by seeing solar energy being generated to consider this for homes, churches and business in the area.
The roof is featured on the Church of England ‘Shrinking the Footprint’ website

Old Home Super Home

johnnewson — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 15:50:17 +0000

Can you make an older home into an energy efficient one, fit for the 21st century.
Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd April 2011
I shall be having a Spring Opening at my house in Balsall Heath. You will be able to see a range of energy saving measures to cut demands of central heating, save water etc. I will explain how I generate solar electricity and the economics and practicalities of this. It is not a sales exercise but an opportunity to learn from other homeowners.
At the same times, another energy efficient house will be having its first opening in Kings Norton, which I thoroughly recommend if you can get down there.
All the details and booking arrangements are on the website Old Home Superhome which is a national scheme link here

Birmingham’s First Solar Roof on a Church

johnnewson — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 15:42:20 +0000

Balsall Heath Church Centre now has the first solar roof generating electricity on a church in Birmingham. Congratulations everyone. We believe it to be the first of its kind in the UK. It is thin film, amorphous, flexible and lightweight, stuck directly to the roof membrane beneath. Under that is 120mm of insulation, which should hold heat within the building. 8 kilowatts will be generated in strong sunshine, and the panels should produce some power even in dim light. The ‘feed-in tariff’ for the green electricity payable to the church will help support the day centre for the elderly which is there.
There will be an Open Day to learn more on Saturday 9th April 11am to 3pm – 100 Mary Street B12 9JU I am adding a page which describes the project in more detail
see page

Save More Water

johnnewson — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 15:49:02 +0000

Four community buildings in Balsall Heath have now had visits from a Severn Trent water efficiency advisor, Simone Bridge. I was really impressed with what a lot of ways she found to save water on taps, toilets etc. Water is metered and saving water means saving money.

Balsall Heath Church Centre have added a movement sensor to the gent’s urinals, so they only flush when someone uses them, giving a surprisingly big reduction in the water bill.

Local households can also save water and Severn Trent website has lots of ideas and devices to help, see their website