Updated 11:59am 22 March 2010:

Get involved

RSS news for you | Forums
Send your stories

Powered by Google

Home

Authors

Paul Dale

Paul Dale

Birmingham prepares for huge budget cuts

The party’s well and truly over for Birmingham City Council as Europe’s largest public body prepares to slash budgets and axe jobs, says Public Affairs Correspondent Paul Dale.Read

Who is up for a big city challenge in Birmingham?

Arguments over the right job description are delaying the search for the best person to take charge of regeneration at Birmingham City Council, says Public Affairs Correspondent Paul Dale.Read

Plans for a Brum 'Fifth Avenue' in Digbeth

Digbeth High Street could be turned into a permanent events area capable of staging concerts attended by 50,000 people, if a senior city councillor gets his way.Read

Conservative government would force vote on Birmingham mayor issue

Birmingham will be ordered to hold a referendum on whether the city should be run by a directly-elected mayor within three months of a Conservative government taking office next year, this column can confidently predict.Read

Inquiry ordered into chaos at Christmas lights switch-on

An inquiry has been ordered into the chaos at Birmingham’s Christmas Lights switch-on, which was cancelled after an hour as locked-out fans tried to storm a free pop concert by pop band JLS.Read

Inquiry ordered into Birmingham Christmas Lights chaos

An inquiry has been ordered into Birmingham’s Christmas Lights switch-on fiasco, which was cancelled after an hour as locked-out fans tried to storm a free pop concert by X Factor favourites JLS.Read

Shadow Chancellor: AWM isn't doing its job

A Conservative government would abolish regional development agency Advantage West Midlands if that’s what local councils and businesses wanted, Shadow Chancellor George Osborne has confirmed.Read

Council may face inquiry over£115m unemployment fund

MPs may order an inquiry into allegations that Birmingham City Council is mishandling a £115 million fund to cut unemployment.Read

Birmingham International Airport £120 million runway extension must be backed by robust business case

Birmingham International Airport chief executive Paul Kehoe has always been refreshingly frank about challenges facing the aviation industry, so when he talks about the severe difficulties involved in pressing ahead with a long-awaited runway extension it is advisable to sit up and listen.Read

Regeneration on hold as Birmingham City Council takes its time to replace Clive Dutton

Good news, sort of. Birmingham City Council might get around to advertising for a new regeneration boss before Christmas. Read

Teaming up to promote Birmingham's image

Public affairs correspondent Paul Dale looks at a quiet revolution in how Birmingham is set to market itself nationally and internationally.Read

Pay row at city council costing £3.5 million

Errors made when calculating a new wage structure at Birmingham City Council will cost the local authority a minimum of £3.5 million, it has emerged.Read

Birmingham City Council leader revises reputation of former regeneration boss

City council leader Mike Whitby has insisted that he, as much as anyone else, had played the leading role in shaping the expansion of Birmingham, as he rewrote the glittering reputation of former regeneration boss Clive Dutton.Read

Editor Marc Reeves slays some sacred cows as Birmingham Post goes weekly

Marc Reeves, a Brummie proud to have been born and brought up in Handsworth, tells Paul Dale that taking over as editor of Birmingham Post in 2006 was the fulfilment of a life-long ambitionRead

Lib Dem split over Working Neighbourhoods Fund enlivens Birmingham City Council meeting

Interesting to spot Liberal Democrat and Tory bad boys Jerry Evans and Randal Brew chatting conspiratorially in the back row at Monday’s cabinet meeting.Read

Birmingham needs another Clive Dutton

Apparently, the business community is “relaxed” about the tortuous process Birmingham appears to be going through in deciding when, or even how, to select a replacement for regeneration director Clive Dutton.Read

West Midlands councils told by Government to work together

The under-performing West Midlands region will be given a blunt government warning today – start working together and mend your differences.Read

Birmingham regeneration chief quits to join Clive Dutton in London

Birmingham City Council’s regeneration department was plunged into a fresh crisis last night after it was confirmed that the man responsible for driving forward the Big City Plan project to mastermind redevelopment over the next 20 years has quit.Read

Birmingham must punch its weight if region is to be taken seriously, says top Tory

Birmingham must do far more to punch its weight as the political and economic powerhouse of the West Midlands if the region is ever to be taken seriously in London, a senior Conservative said last night.Read

Birmingham City Council deputy leader rejects John Denham criticism

The deputy leader of Birmingham City Council hit back vigorously last night in rejecting government claims that the strategy for allocating cash grants from the £115 million Working Neighbourhoods Fund had been mishandled.Read

Author Profile

Paul Dale has been writing about local government in the West Midlands for more than 20 years. The Post's public affairs editor, he is a previous political editor of the Coventry Evening Telegraph and Local Government Correspondent of the Oxford Mail.

Get Involved

We want your local stories, videos & pics.