Simon Paul Felton

More than one way to cross a road . .

What a great way to cover up innane daubings with this fine piece of Street Art... opposite Moseley Station @PositivelyMKH @BirminghamWeAre @moseleyinbloom @moseleyforum @WestMidsPhotogs @WMTransportHub @MoseleyGiving @brumculture #moseley #trains #CommunitySupport

‘People are proud of this green spirit of ours’: how a small Spanish city rejected cars | Access to green space | The Guardian theguardian.com/environment/20…

Really important need for housing but also tieing into Millburns NEET report with challenge of 6.4% working age adults out of work. Thinking of @thomasforth highlighting how Manchester and #Birmingham not reaching their potential for UK economy overall.

The battle to build , a tale of six cities in todays @TheSTHome

@thomasforth The full article in the Sunday Times Home today:

" Which of the UK’s cities has cracked the housing crisis?" asks The Times. "Leeds leads the way with new homes, adding 4,330 in 2023/2024, the highest number in Centre for Cities’ top ten, surpassing the city council’s target of 3,811 new dwellings." 💅 thetimes.com/article/2ccf51…

A future #Birmingham skyline commission for a happy customer. Feat: Curzon St Station 103 Colmore Row The Moda building Grand Central Mailbox Smithfield Masterplan Calthorpe Est Brum Uni Chinatown Digbouth Inst Paradise Circs Small Heath clock Jewl Qtr clock Brindley Plc #Brum

🙌 Introducing our 2025/26 club competition winners! 🏆 #UCL #UWCL #UEL #UECL

Fab to see pitcher plants at @winterbournehg #Birmingham - a fab display in and outside greenhouse. Featured in the wild of USA in recent @the_rhs magazine

📍 Churchill Way, #Cardiff

For the first time in over a century, passengers coming through Sheffield train station will be able to hear and see the River Sheaf, which runs underneath the busy platforms. The Lightwell on Platform 5, right in the centre, now opens up to nature, to the river that gives Sheffield its name and its industrial history. Visits like these are a joy.

Full piece here: observer.co.uk/news/business/…

This chart is bonkers. I think there's two possible explanations for why the UK runs so far ahead of other European countries – neither of them good. And the annual April jump speaks to a wider issue. For more detail, see my column in this weekend's Observer (link below).

#CityOf1000Trades: An illustration of John Rubery's Charlotte St premises. The firm made umbrellas, parasols, furniture & steel frames. John inherited the firm from his late father, Jeremiah and his mother, Frances. Ref: New Illustrated Directory, LF 06 @LibraryofBham

@MrMappy new @WMmetro plan for you in cross conurbation perspective for your railmapper website. From: westmidlandsmetro.com/maps/

‘The expansion of the West Midlands Metro is changing Birmingham’s urban landscape and social legacy’ #Birmingham @wmmetro @midlandtram newcivilengineer.com/in-depth/how-t…

A 2012 throwback to #Birmingham shopping.

13 years ago, Rotherham, England turned 8 miles of mowed roadside grass into a "river of flowers." In 2021, they added even more miles. The original scheme was commissioned by Rotherham Council in 2013, designed by Professor Nigel Dunnett at the University of Sheffield, and seeded with a 180-species wildflower mix along the central reservations of the town's main ring road. It replaced mowing that had been costing the council around £80,000 a year. Since then: the wildflower verges have saved roughly £23,000 to £25,000 per two-year mowing cycle, increased pollinator abundance, and inspired similar programs in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Birmingham, Newcastle, and Sheffield. In 2021, Rotherham added 3.5 more miles across 12 new sites including Herringthorpe, Swinton, Harthill, and Maltby. They just keep expanding it. The UK has lost 97% of its wildflower meadows in the last 100 years. Most of what was lost was paved, plowed, or mowed. The verges nobody was using anyway turned out to be one of the largest untapped habitats in the country.