Monday the 4th of October saw the first meeting of the Highgate Residents Group. A group brought together by targeted canvassing and leafleting of the Birmingham Branch of the Workers Party of Britain.

The Workers Party – Birmingham have been out door knocking and speaking to local residents of the Highgate area over the past month, seeking to understand the living and working conditions of local people, in order to organise and act collectively to tackle some of the major issues.

What we have discovered through our work is further confirmation of the systematic neglect and dereliction of duty by the Labour-led Birmingham City Council, it is truly criminal. We have remarked on the illegal and inhumane behaviour of the Council many times, regarding their unlawful homeless housing programme, the rising infant mortality rate in the city as a result of the increasing poverty and lack of social provisions, their disregard for the working people and small business owners of Kings Heath who are being poisoned and pushed out due to the implementation of the LTN scheme without consultation.

The Highgate Residents Group meeting discussed the necessity of taking collective action, of fighting against and fixing the root cause of the issue rather than seeking to treat the symptoms (not that the council are even willing to do that).

It is not acceptable in modern Britain, the fifth biggest economy in the world, that working people are continuing to live in conditions reminiscent of Victorian slums, while the Council sits on financial reserves of over half a billion pounds.

It is time for the working people to come together and demand what is rightfully ours. Good wages and working conditions, affordable and well kept housing, cheap or free public transport, and elected representatives that actually represent the working class of Birmingham, not the financial interests of big business.

The next meeting of the Highgate Residents Group will be held on Monday 1st of November at 7pm. During this meeting we will further discuss concrete plans to hold the Council to account for their lawless behaviour.

Please join us.