Is Solihull far away enough from Birmingham?

[Hatebirmingham]

I live in Edgbaston and HATE Birmingham. I’ve been here for 6 years and I think it’s bloody awful. It’s run down, unsafe to the point where I could list multiple areas where I barely feel safe driving through, never mind getting out of the car and there are so many areas that don’t even feel like you’re in the UK. I see teens around and would be throughly depressed for these to be the children that my own would attend school with - lots seem to be wannabe ‘gangsters’, rude, intimidating etc. I find the vast majority of Birmingham incredibly depressing.

We can’t leave the West Midlands unfortunately.

I was wondering if Solihull may be a better fit for us. My oldest DC is starting school next year so we still have time to move without interrupting education. My question is - is Solihull (particularly Dorridge/Knowle) far enough away from Birmingham to not be affected by Birmingham’s ‘issues’?

IABU: Solihull is still too close to Birmingham
IANBU: Solihull is much better than Birmingham

Yep, she definitely isn't!

.

The bin strike has not helped the situation - the fact that poor and immigrant populations are less likely to have access to their own vehicle to be able to remove their household waste to the tip themselves has caused already rundown and deprived areas to appear much worse.

This is not because they are immigrants or because they are poor it is a consequence of the poor financial planning of the council and cuts in services always impact poorer communities faster and more deeply than communities that have more relative personal wealth. As more relative wealth means you have more options in how you are able to tackle challenges.

It is poverty and a shift in society’s behaviour as a whole. We see that in places like Chelmsley Wood which is predominantly white British.

What's a 'crab bucket'?

The shift in societies behaviour part I agree with, but poverty being the driver - how does that stack up when previous generations had a lot less, but STILL managed to maintain their areas?

Solihull is fucking awful. Sutton Coldfield as well. Small town mentalities rammed full of people who think they’re better than everyone else.

As a Londoner, anything north of Watford is a pretty amorphous region where the finer distinctions of Birmingham, Solihull, Dudley, Wolverhampton, Wednesbury, Walsall and West Bromwich are all vaguely lumped together as "Brummies". And - as a Londoner - there is a certain amusement in hearing people from Studley grumbling they aren't from Redditch.

In London, areas are very mixed culturally and economically which isn’t really the case in Birmingham. It’s created very poor, monocultural areas. Shopping seems to be the main pastime in depressing places like MerryHill.

Merry Hill is not in Birmingham

That sounds awful and so intimidating. I don't blame you for wanting to move.

Literally the entire post.

HTH

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_mentality

Crab mentality, also known as crab theory,[1] crabs in a bucket[a] mentality, or the crab-bucket effect, describes the mindset of people who try to prevent others from gaining a favorable position, even if attaining such position would not directly impact those trying to stop them.

I know it from Terry Pratchett books - discouraging other from bettering themsleves or their poistions/jobs.

DH had a 20 minute bus journey where one woman behind spent entire journey shitting on her mates plan to do a course in next town and get a higher paid job - reaonable plan DH said well thought though counter argument boiled down to it wasn't for the likes of them. After that he said we have to get the kids out of there. It was worse as it went with information as well - they could never tell you anything even HV - then you'd find it and then they'd all go yea we used/did that - ffs.

Not it's not. HTH.

I've lived in Leamington Spa for 30+ years, and I can guess what is meant by "also going downhill"! It is a bit - but it's not irrecoverable and it's fair to say any descent it's experiencing is from a high peak.

Like any town its shopping is taking a bit of a hit at the moment, particularly in The Parade, our main shopping street, which lost House of Frasers a couple of years ago - it was a sizeable chunk of frontage. The site was redeveloped but is still largely unlet - I believe there were hopes that some of the computer gaming companies would move in, but it didn't happen. M&S moving their clothing store to The Shires Retail Park on the outskirts emptied a large part of the town centre Priors shopping centre too. (M&S Food Hall is still on The Parade.) On the plus side, we seem to be attracting a few new small independents and there is an excellent range of cafes, coffee shops and restaurants.

Schools in this area are good, primary and secondary. (You said your oldest was starting school next year?) We're the main site of the Warwickshire College, and there's lots of resident students for both the College and the nearby Warwick University.

Lots of parks through the centre of the town, a six-screen cinema, The Spa Centre theatre attracts lots of acts. It takes me just over 20 minutes by car to Stratford-upon-Avon if you want world-class theatre.

Is your husband working in Brum? I think it's about 30 minutes by train to New Street or Moor Street.

Have I sold it to you yet?

Warwick is lovely too, and the two towns are frankly joined at the hip. Fewer shops and cafes, but the annual pass for Warwick Castle is worth having in the summer holidays for children. I would go once or twice a week when DS was small, he loved listening to The Bowman (tales of Agincourt) and watching the trebuchet and the occasional jousting. Take a packed lunch and it works out as pretty cheap entertainment. Warwick also has good schools.

Kenilworth I don't know so much about. Smaller than Leamington and Warwick, although there's been quite a bit of housebuilding on the edges of all three towns lately.

Leamington does still feel safe to me. There have been a few notable incidents in the past couple of years - a machete taken into the college, a rape in the park, a shooting that was gang-related - but these all stood out because they were so out of the ordinary. The sort of thing you read about in the paper rather than feel on the street IYSWIM.

If that's what you think, what's stopping you?

She isn’t saying that at all, as I suspect you realise already.

She is pointing out the drop in standards from previous decades, when despite grinding poverty many people took pride in where they lived to the point of polishing their doorsteps. These days people think it’s ok to leave large items of rubbish in the front gardens, or drop litter in the streets.

The West Midlands is a large area...

Have you thought about Worcester?

We moved from a ‘nice’ area of Surrey to Solihull when I was 9.
My DM was very offended when the estate agent compared our previous leafy area, unfavourably, with Solihull.

‘You're nobody here,’ he added, ‘unless you’ve got three cars and a horse.’
This was in 1959!!

I think Birmingham is a great city. I have no idea where you have been going but you are not describing the city I know.

OP said there was too much crime and that it was unsafe.
Its racist to jump to the conclusion that those causing the crimewave are from ethnic backgrounds, they could and should be just as many white criminals since we live in a "white" country. Its not OP that seems to make the link between diversity and crime, it was the PP's

I'm sorry but it was OP who linked this to race, I'd suggest you read all of her posts.

I know the area well and I would personally move further away. Crime has increased a lot and only recently there was a machete attack on young teenagers earlier this month. The town centre often has groups of youths running amok plus there's a lot of road racing, car crime and shop theft. Its scary and probably depicts a wider decline in behaviour across the country. Good luck with the research; perhaps take a look at Warwick or Bromsgrove - I have relatives in Bromsgrove and it seems less affected by crime.

These things happen in all cities and even in towns though they certainly aren't specific to Birmingham.

There’s a lot of that happening on this thread. And when they’re called out, it’s faux innocence and outrage that that’s not what they meant.

Whilst people of colour keep quiet about their experiences of racism because what is the point of sharing it with people on this thread.

Can you give a few examples of things that have made you feel unsafe, things that have been said and/or done to you or in your ptesence

As someone that grew up on a Birmingham council estate 40 years ago, I can confirm that large items of rubbish in front gardens was common back then. Some older people polished their doorstep but not my parents age group. I think dropping litter was way more common back then.

Will it be able to top the Nadhim Zahawi story ?

https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/london-not-safe-nadhim-zahawi-5HjdSK8_2