Let me introduce you to someone.

This is Mike Whitby, who just happens to be the current leader of the Tory group in Birmingham and, thanks to the Lib Dems cutting a deal last year, of Birmingham City Council itself.

Mike doesn’t actually, so I understand, live in Birmingham, although he does own a property in Selly Oak on which he pays council tax or business rates so he does qualify to stand as a councillor in Brum.

He actually lives in Sandwell - on Lightwoods Hill in Bearwood so I have been told.

He also has a business is Sandwell - Skeldings - which is based in Smethwick. In fact by a strange coincidence in my previous job I actually worked in offices right next to his company.

As leader of Birmingham City Council, Mike is ultimately responsible for the state of Lightwoods Park in Bearwood which is ‘owned’ by Birmingham City Council but actually in Sandwell - this is not so uncommon a situation as most local parks round here were once the private lands of local industrialists and businessmen before being willed or place in trust with local councils for the benefit of local people. Parks were once a vey good way of ensuring that your posterity if you were wealthy enough to own a fair bit of land.

Now when I was a kid, Lightwoods Park was a pretty nice place to visit as local parks go and generally well maintained - it used to have a little putting green and the bowling green there was always busy if the weather was good. But over the years its gradually become more and more run down and fallen in disrepair, in no small part due to this odd situation where its in Sandwell but the responsibility of Birmingham city Council who really don’t seem to give a toss what kind of state the place gets into - not to put too fine a point on it, these days the park is a fucking disgrace.

Now we, in Sandwell, would like to sort this out, do a few renovations and generally ensure that the park is brough back up to scratch… except that we can’t because it belongs of Birmingham.

So here’s the rub. In June, Smethwick Community Forum will be holding an open forum meeting for the people of Smethwick at a venue in Bearwood and we’ve a few things we’re looking to get our teeth into - the Safeway/Post Office closure, the bloody casino which is apparently back and, yes you’ve guessed it, the state of Lightwoods Park…

…and as Mike appears to be a resident of Bearwood and would, therefore, be eligible to become a member of the forum then I think it only right and proper that we extend him an invitation to attend the meeting - in fact once the details are finalised than I may arrange for a number of local residents who I know to be very unhappy with the state of the park, to deliver the invitation in person.

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Now I don’t know of Mike has ever visited here - probably not - but I do know that John Hemming pops by every now and then, usually not long after I mention his name - so if you do happen by, John, be sure to let Mike know that there’s a few local people would like a word with him about the park…

…ooh, and before I forget, as ‘customer service’ at Birmingham City Council falls within John’s purview as Deputy Leader, perhaps he could also find out why a number of local people who’ve phoned BCC to complain about the Park have been told by Council staff that they can’t deal with their complaints because the complainant doesn’t live in Birmingham.

From what I understand this is nothing to do with the Contact Birmingham call centre, btw, but whoever it is that people have been speaking to directly within BCC.

I dare say that my esteemed blogging colleague, Politicalhack, may have more of a view on this than I but according to icBirmingham, today will see another challenge to Albery Bore’s leadership of the Labour group in Birmingham City Council by Mike Olley.

Where this apparently get even more interesting is that several months ago, at the time of Cllr Olley’s last challenge for leadership the local press reported that he and Lib Dem Councillor Paul Tilsley are old family friends and speculated that were Tilsley to become leader of the Lib Dem group in Birmingham in the aftermath of John Hemming’s election as MP for Yardley and Olley become leader of Labour group then we could see the current Tory/Lib Dem alliance which runs Birmingham transmute, overnight, into a new ruling Labour/Lib Dem coalition.

The other barrier to this, apart form the little matter of the Labour leadership challenge is, of course, John Hemming himself, who was saying before the elections that he’d stay on as Lib Dem leader and Council Deputy Leader even if elected - all of which appears to confirm that he was the one that cut the deal with Mike Whitby which put the Tory’s in charge last year.

Whether John can pull off this dual role remains to be seen, particularly as with sites like They Work For You, which make it very easy to check up on your MP’s performance, Hemming must surely know that he’s going to be watched all the way for any sign of him slacking off in one or other of his current ‘jobs’.

It’ll be interesting to see where this goes next.