Colmore Row tower dispute could cost Victorian Society
British Land has won planning permission for a controversial 35-storey tower in Colmore Row, but we may not have heard the end of the matter.
In the latest edition of its newsletter, the Birmingham Victorian Society says it is considering its options.
The Victorian Society has taken a pretty dim view of the £150 million replacement for the NatWest Tower, calling it an “incongruous leviathan”.
I gather a number of possibilities to have the “abomination” of a skyscraper yards from the splendour of the Council House and St Philip’s Cathedral kicked out are being considered.
But there is no process of appeal against the granting of planning permission, unless of course legal action is taken to overthrow the decision.
A judicial review would appear to be the only way forward, assuming the Victorian Society could afford to go down such an expensive route.
That, of course, would only succeed if it could be shown the council had not followed the correct process when granting planning permission.
One possibility would be to try to prove that members of the planning committee came under undue pressure to approve the tower.
That could never be the case, surely?
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If executives at Marketing Birmingham were expecting fulsome praise from city council leader Mike Whitby for providing delegates at the Conservative conference with vouchers for a lap dancing venue, they were disappointed.
Whitby said in a statement: “Marketing Birmingham were responsible for managing various aspects of the event, including a promotional brochure featuring discounts across a wide range of visitor economy businesses. We have seen no evidence that this has in any way detracted from the success of the event.”
Whitby could have praised Marketing Birmingham’s ingenuity, but he didn’t.
In fact, he said just about enough to make it clear that he was less than impressed by such a close brush with the sex industry.
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The look on the faces of transportation scrutiny committee members when they were told that legal permission for the A38 Tyburn Road bus lane expired 18 months ago was a picture.
It had always been assumed, wrongly as it turned out, that the city council could simply agree to reinstate the bus lane, which has been “suspended” for four years. That is not the case, according to Chris Haynes, head of transportation strategy.
Haynes, in the best dead parrot sketch tradition, explained that the bus lane is no more, it is extinct, it has expired.
Committee chairman Martin Mullaney, aka Mr Bus, said: “This is very disappointing”.
You can say that again, Martin.
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