We sent out camera teams to speak to Birmingham residents regarding the councils current financial crisis.
Birmingham City Council may face the necessity of divesting its holdings to procure funds for alleviating its severe financial predicament. The council lodged a Section 114 notification the previous week, signifying that the largest locally devolved authority in Europe has essentially declared insolvency.
In accordance with this notification, the council has suspended non-essential expenditures and will not permit any fresh outlays. This development arises from the council's struggle to satisfy an equal pay settlement amounting to £760 million.
Mayor Andy Street has advocated a three-pronged strategy to the government. This encompasses seeking authorisation for utilising asset sales to address equal pay obligations, assembling a cadre of experts to oversee a rescue blueprint, and initiating a comprehensive and transparent independent examination into the council.
Much like the divestment of its stake in the NEC in 2014, Birmingham Airport is also under consideration for potential sale. Furthermore, the council possesses assets valued at approximately £2.4 billion, encompassing the venerable council edifice in Victoria Square, roughly 26,000 acres of land, and 6,500 property holdings (excluding residential units, infrastructure, and educational facilities). All of these assets are now potentially subject to disposal for the purpose of generating funds.
Birmingham City Council may face the necessity of divesting its holdings to procure funds for alleviating its severe financial predicament. The council lodged a Section 114 notification the previous week, signifying that the largest locally devolved authority in Europe has essentially declared insolvency.
In accordance with this notification, the council has suspended non-essential expenditures and will not permit any fresh outlays. This development arises from the council's struggle to satisfy an equal pay settlement amounting to £760 million.
Mayor Andy Street has advocated a three-pronged strategy to the government. This encompasses seeking authorisation for utilising asset sales to address equal pay obligations, assembling a cadre of experts to oversee a rescue blueprint, and initiating a comprehensive and transparent independent examination into the council.
Much like the divestment of its stake in the NEC in 2014, Birmingham Airport is also under consideration for potential sale. Furthermore, the council possesses assets valued at approximately £2.4 billion, encompassing the venerable council edifice in Victoria Square, roughly 26,000 acres of land, and 6,500 property holdings (excluding residential units, infrastructure, and educational facilities). All of these assets are now potentially subject to disposal for the purpose of generating funds.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 I think it's one of the worst councils going on.
00:05 I just can't understand why somebody hasn't intervened years ago.
00:10 They knew about this business with equal pay, like back in 2007.
00:15 My wife worked for the council and they knew about it then.
00:19 So I can't understand with all the clever people about it
00:24 if they couldn't have done something a lot earlier than waiting
00:28 till we run out.
00:30 It will affect all of us in some way or the other.
00:35 We're living in the city and we expect more money to be coming in
00:40 rather than going out or stopping at some point.
00:43 So I think that Birmingham did a fantastic job in Commonwealth.
00:47 Personally, I'm looking forward to the HS2 being connected.
00:53 So yeah, there's a lot of things on the pipeline,
00:56 but being bankrupt at this stage is quite sad at the moment.
01:01 The state of the roads at the moment, I have actually called them up.
01:06 This was a few weeks ago.
01:08 About some of the roads in the area having more and more and bigger potholes,
01:14 particularly by the recycling centre.
01:16 So yeah, definitely some concerns about spending money on road tax
01:21 and that effectively not going towards those services.
01:25 I know there are plenty of other outreach programmes
01:29 that really do need the funding.
01:31 So yeah, definitely a lot of stuff that could be impacted
01:34 and probably will be impacted.
01:36 So yeah.
01:37 I'm very concerned that there will be not enough financial help for everybody
01:41 and that people will be really struggling.
01:44 And for yourself?
01:45 Myself, I'm not thinking the same.
01:49 She's thinking the same.
01:51 No, I have a question now.
01:52 The bank prevents the impact.
01:55 She's upset and I'm real about that
01:57 because obviously the city of Birmingham is like a big community
02:01 for everybody that lives here, so everybody should help each other.
02:05 I've already seen the roads are kind of unkept already.
02:09 So it's already having an impact.
02:11 So in the next few months or so, it's going to get progressively worse.
02:17 I was surprised, but at the end of the day,
02:21 they didn't pay their female workers well,
02:24 so it was inevitable really.
02:27 It's unfortunate, but that's the consequences of, you know,
02:32 not doing what they were supposed to do.
02:35 Do you think this council leadership might suffer
02:38 at subsequent elections as a result of what's happened?
02:42 Yes.
02:44 To what degree, but I think it will significantly impact it, yeah.
02:48 I don't think this is going to be the only city.
02:51 I think there's going to be quite a few places having exactly the same.
02:56 And I wish them well, for I just hope that they can sort it out.
03:02 [BLANK_AUDIO]