The Fox Hollies Neighbourhood Forum held a public meeting last night. The major agenda items were:

1)     A presentation by Citysave, Birmingham’s largest Credit Union:

1. Citysave was set up in 1987 and has 10,000 members, who own it.
2. It lends between £500 and £10,000 (average loan size £870) at a typical rate of 3% per month (42% APR). This covers defaults (typically 4-6%), administrative costs and what is left over is distributed to members.
3. It does not pay interest on member’s deposits, but shares profits – which amounted to a payment of 1.5% on deposits last year. There is no guarantee what these will be, but the first £85k of deposits are safeguarded by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
4. If you are interested and want to find out more you can contact Citysave on www.citysave.org.uk or 0121 616 6200

2)     The Friends of Fox Hollies Park gave an update:

1. A committee has been set up chaired by Xenophon (Xen) Tzambazles and with Nahida Parveen as vice chair. The next committee meeting will be at 7pm on 12^th December (location tbc).
2. Activities so far have included litter picks and restocking the pond with 2,000 fish. More are planned for 2015 including participating in Active Parks
3. You can get involved by following them on Facebook www.facebook.com/foxholliespark or Twitter on @park_hollies

3)     Policing Update:

1. Crime has fallen by 8% in the past year – the best ward performance in Yardley Constituency
2. Burglary is down 11%, Business crime down 0.5% and there is a small (1 crime) rise in vehicle crime.
3. There has been anti speeding session in Lakey Lane, Fox Hollies Road and Dolphin Lane, with offenders given the chance to go on a speed awareness course rather than pick up penalty points and a fine.
4. Future projects include a crackdown on those using mobile phones while driving in Acocks Green and on Saturday the 29^th November, crime prevention advice will be on offer from a van in Sainsbury’s car park.

As normal I also picked up a number of casework issues from individual residents. I’ll be following these up and getting back to the residents concerned.