Home Authors Paul Dale

Paul Dale

Paul Dale

Summerfield spotlight alerts Whitby's wrath

Neville Summerfield, the Birmingham cabinet member for regeneration-lite, has suffered another humiliating put-down at the hands of city council leader Mike Whitby. Read

Councillors knock plans for £160m Colmore Row skyscraper

The chances of developers securing permission to build a skyscraper at the heart of Birmingham’s business district has taken a knock. Read

Mullaney: save library from demolition

A senior member of Birmingham’s ruling Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition is risking the wrath of his colleagues by calling for the city’s Central Library to be saved from demolition. Read

Just how green was the city's climate change event?

Council leaders have been accused of missing a golden opportunity to promote their commitment to the green agenda by failing to work out the carbon footprint of Birmingham’s first climate change festival. Read

Refusal of congestion charge will be costly, says Bore

Birmingham and the West Midlands could lose out on Government transport infrastructure projects worth hundreds of millions of pounds as a result of the region’s reluctance to volunteer for road pricing experiments, a senior political figure has claimed. Read

Claim that Quarter’s World Heritage bid hit by bad planning

A campaign to win World Heritage status for Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter is in danger of failing because planners are allowing inappropriate development to spoil its unique architecture, a conservation group claimed. Read

John Lines avoids Cairns-like censure over 'scumbag' comment

While most Conservatives never forgave Theresa May for describing Tories as the nasty party and still fewer understood why she believed that to be the case, her comments forced a change in attitude among the image-conscious backers of David Cameron. Read

Library site doubts as English Heritage backs protection plan

Ambitious plans for a £1 billion transformation of Birmingham’s historic civic heart have been thrown into doubt. Read

15,000 staff could sue council over new job contracts

Birmingham City Council workers who had new employment contracts imposed upon them could be set for legal action. Read

Councillors get wage rise in line with staff

City councillors in Birmingham are likely to take a lower than expected pay rise for the second year running. Read

Council climbs from one of the worst to one of the best

Five years after being written off as one of the worst local authorities in the country, Birmingham City Council is meeting 87 per cent of Government efficiency targets. Read

Stratford eco town plan was poorly thought out

Proposals for an eco town in the countryside near Stratford-upon-Avon have been poorly thought out and would result in the development of expensive, inaccessible housing estates requiring huge subsidies from taxpayers, according to a study by Warwickshire County Council. Read

City cab drivers suffer from a rise in taxi numbers

Taxi drivers are struggling to make a living in Birmingham because there are too many licensed cabs on the roads, according to a new study. Read

Bold plan to light up city centre

Moves to improve the image of Birmingham at night by floodlighting prominent buildings have been unveiled by the city council. Read

Ireland’s treaty ‘no’ should shock politicians, says Stuart

Ireland’s refusal to accept the Lisbon reform treaty should shock “high-handed and arrogant” politicians into trimming the power of the European Union, a prominent Labour MP has argued. Read

European entrepreneurs name Birmingham best city

Birmingham has beaten London, Paris, Rome, Madrid and Berlin to be named the best business environment in Europe Read

Birmingham in the box seat for high-speed rail link to the continent

Birmingham is leading the race to build Britain’s second high speed rail line, with an £11 billion plan to run 180mph services to St Pancras in London. Read

Labour risk losing Ladywood to Ayoub Khan

Labour, having split its own ranks with a spectacularly botched selection of a candidate to replace Clare Short MP in Ladywood at the next General Election, is quickly waking up to the fact that this once rock-solid seat could be lost to, of all people, the Liberal Democrats. Read

Anti-congestion charge campaigner Peter Roberts takes Drivers' Alliance fight to the national stage

The West Midlands businessman who shook the Government when his anti-congestion charge petition on the Downing Street website attracted more than 1.8 million signatures is launching a national pressure group aimed at securing a “fairer deal” for motorists. Read

We've failed Birmingham suburbs, admits leading councillor

A senior member of the Birmingham cabinet admitted the city council had not done enough to tackle high unemployment and poverty. 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.