08/06/2026
Birmingham City Council Leader, Cllr Roger Harmer, interviewed by Birmingham Live:
“Councillor Roger Harmer will now lead Birmingham City Council, which is often described as the largest in Europe and has a budget of around £4.4 billion. Coun Harmer said the coalition was “united by a vision of progress” and named resolving the bins strike as one of its major priorities.
Speaking in the council chamber on Friday, he said other focuses for the new administration include tackling anti-social behaviour, rogue landlords, potholes, dangerous drivers and “those who ignore planning and waste regulations”. Prior to the local elections, Coun Harmer was also quizzed on how his party would address a number of issues if they took control of the council. Here’s what the new leader of Birmingham City Council’s stance was on bin collections, unemployment and culture at the time.
* Bins - Asked how the Lib Dems would approach tackling the bins strike earlier this year, Coun Harmer said both sides need to be in the same room to “try and get to a common understanding of what the law says. At the moment, what is driving the two sides apart is different legal advice,” he said. “Once you got agreement on [the legal restraints], you try and work out a fair and legal settlement." The Birmingham Liberal Democrats also said they would “maintain weekly collections until services have shown themselves to be completely reliable for a significant level of time”.
* Road safety and potholes - When it came to road safety, Coun Harmer argued that the council, previously run by Labour, had not done enough and went on to say that the city needs more average speed cameras. His party also want to create a “significant network” of moving traffic enforcement cameras in a bid to address issues such as red-light running and going the wrong way down one-way streets.
* Culture - Coun Harmer’s stance on Birmingham’s arts and culture was to describe it as a “real asset that the city should be actively promoting. One of our priorities is to get all of our museums open much longer – that would be a gradual process,” he said. “It’s crazy you’ve got places like Blakesley Hall and it’s hardly open at all. That may mean working with the community so it’s partly volunteers, partly paid staff.”
* Housing - Coun Harmer previously argued the council had mishandled development in the city centre and elsewhere in the past. “What we seem to be throwing up is lots of small apartments, yet what we need is more family housing – particularly for social rent,” he said. “And we should be working with communities – if you look at the Ladywood regeneration, it’s another case where the council has failed to work with the local community.”
* Unemployment - Unemployment in certain areas of Birmingham has been a cause for concern in recent times, with one councillor arguing that they stand at “crisis levels” in some communities. Coun Harmer argued there was a massive opportunity for Birmingham with the investment coming in – but stressed that deprived communities had to be ‘linked in’.
Full article here: https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/new-birmingham-council-leader-stands-34083367
