Dear John,

This week, the Prime Minister and his cabinet have announced further relaxation of Covid social measures from 19 July. I want to see our economy open and to get back to normal. But it must be controlled, not chaotic.  
 
Covid cases have risen by 71% nationally, the highest level since early February with hospital admissions creeping up. And it’s clear why. Cases are surging because the Government let the Delta variant in. Removing all protections in one go will send infections rising – it’s reckless. 
 
With higher infection rates, we’ll likely see new variants emerging, greater pressure on the NHS, more people will get long Covid, and test and trace will be ineffective. We need a controlled approach that that keeps in place measures that push down infections, like mandatory face masks on public transport – which we know protect people, reduce the spread of the virus, and don’t harm the economy. 
 
We all want restrictions to be lifted, we all want our economy open again. Time and time again the PM has made the wrong calls, yet again the Tories are chasing headlines with another reckless, irresponsible approach to the pandemic. 

Earlier this week Quinton’s Councillor, Kate Booth, and I invited Birmingham City Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport, Cllr Waseem Zaffar, to come to the constituency and take a look in person at the state of our roads.  
 
This has been a growing issue that many constituents have contacted me about and I have continued to challenge the council on this. It isn’t right or fair that residents should have to put up with the disrepair of our roads or the number of potholes that inevitably add to the costs that car owners must pay to maintain their vehicles.  
 
Now, the council has announced that it is investing £100 million into maintaining and resurfacing roads. I invited Cllr Zaffar to Quinton to show him how vital it is that this funding is spent on roads like Ridgeacre Road, Firsby Road, Gorsey Road and many others across the constituency. 

This week saw Kim Leadbeater win a fantastic victory in the Batley Earlier this year, we submitted a petition to Birmingham City Council, calling on the council to introduce a one-way system along Nursery Road in Harborne to ease congestion, stop cars from mounting the pavement and make the road safer for the community.  
 
Today, I invited Cllr Waseem Zaffar, cabinet member for transport, to come to Nursery Road and meet with me and Cllr Jayne Francis, ward councillor for Harborne. Along with highways engineers and residents, we took a walk around the immediate area, to show Cllr Zaffar and the council officers how early morning traffic is affecting residents.  
 
It is a dangerous situation which urgently needs to be addressed. It’s a route where parents are taking their children to school and people are trying to drive to work. As a narrow road, cars are mounting pavements to avoid oncoming traffic including emergency vehicles and HGVs.  
 
I was pleased to see the council listening to us and the progress being made in today’s meeting. As the situation progresses, I will continue to keep residents updated. 

Throughout the pandemic, it's our local groups that have been the heartbeat of our communities. If you work for or volunteer with a community group and need support with funding there is help available. 

One of these is the Tesco Community Grants. They are now open for applications from local charities. Every three months community groups and charities across the UK will be able to apply for a grant of up to £1,500 from the total pot of £2m for each period. The final projects that receive grants have traditionally been chosen through customer voting in-store and this will be re-instated from July 12th. 

For more information about what funding support is available for community groups, please email me [email protected] or for information on the Tesco Community Grants, please follow the link below.