Gareth Hooper
@garethhooper.bsky.social
450 followers 1.1K following 180 posts
Impact Evaluation Manager at The Strategy Unit. Advocate for active travel and clean air. Cyclist. Rower. Runner. 🌐 Birmingham
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@livingstreets.bsky.social imagine being this selfish and stupid to block a footpath
Reposted by Gareth Hooper
Don't park on my drive, but I'll park on the footpath. Birmingham Car Culture is optimised on Willows Road
This decision makes public health even better value for money. But I doubt we'll see any difference in allocation!
@livingstreets.bsky.social Birmingham is a cultural city. Unfortunately, car culture is promoted more than others.
Don't bring pushchairs to Brum.
Presumably putting flags up twice is a "repeated protest", the type Shabana Mahmood suggests giving Police more powers to prevent?
Flags went up in Stirchley a few days ago & were taken down by local residents the same evening.

The men returned with a cherry picker and coned off parts of the road with police accompanying them as they put up new flags along the High Street.

Residents who object have been met with verbal abuse.
Combined Authorities don't have enough political accountability. I think they need councillors as well as a mayor.
Thanks for sharing. There wasn't space for me to make comments about how I think Kings Heath park could be more pedestrian friendly and improve access to hard surfaces for sport. Where can I raise these discussion points?
@betterstreetsforbirmingham.org @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social great dashboard from @healthfoundation.bsky.social local authority dashboard. Birmingham doesn't come out well but we have to start somewhere. Active travel under Transport tab www.health.org.uk/evidence-hub...
www.health.org.uk
London is a rich city in a poor country
This is why Reform have gained traction
No major English city other than London has productivity levels above the national average, says @dantomlinson.bsky.social . We cannot continue to leave our economy flying on one cylinder - it leads to excessive housing costs in London and not enough good quality jobs everywhere else in the country.
Applying Foots trolley problem to traffic, the single occupied cars should not impede the bus carrying >50 people. Cars impeding buses fails both utilitarian and ethical test
Yeah, heard that before about Brum having a comparatively small effective population caused by difficult traveling
I'm in love with Berlin after my week's holiday there. Fabulous city.

Anyone know how they manage to support SO many independent restaurants? They're of a high standard too. Birmingham really struggles keep restaurants open.
Indeed. Renationalised / franchised public transport is a great step forward. Hope to see it displace cars and return some £££ to public purse
West Midlands transport policy over last century or so....

1. Pay for trams
2. Pay to remove trams
3. Pay for roads
4. Pay to close roads
5. Pay for trams

Imagine where we would be had we avoided the cost and terrible outcomes of steps 2,3 and 4
@eddavey.libdems.org.uk bares his soul on fesshole
I'm a professional comedian but I've got absolutely no idea why people find me funny. Every day I'm terrified it'll suddenly stop working for them and for reasons I don't understand.
Reposted by Gareth Hooper
Former leader of Reform UK in Wales pleads guilty to bribery charges relating to statements in favour of Russia in the European parliament.

But Reform UK want to get rid of regulators and cut govt spending ... leading to less investigation and enforcement ... more bribery and security threats.
Reform UK’s ex-leader in Wales Nathan Gill pleads guilty to bribery charges
Gill admits eight counts of bribery relating to pro-Russia statements made in European parliament and articles
www.theguardian.com
Reposted by Gareth Hooper
I just checked the BBC news website. Eventually, at the bottom of the politics section after the negative Labour stories...
Agree Joe. I hope cross party support can bring this about.
And this part of Brum is comparatively better than other parts for terrible parking.

The ambivalence of Council/TfWM when you contact them about it is off the scale. Off. The. Scale. 👌🏼
A person living in Birmingham is 5 times more likely to be killed on the roads than a person living in Berlin.

The likelihood of getting anywhere near achieving zero deaths on WM roads lacks any kind of face validity.

Car use in Berlin is about 50% of what it is in Birmingham