Following the personal intervention of Cllr Robert Alden, Erdington has been included in the Backing Birmingham scheme to support local High Streets and businesses.  Robert said “when the scheme was being set up to support local High Streets, it did not include Erdington. I instantly raised this at a scrutiny meeting and went straight to the Cabinet Members regarding this. Sadly no Labour or Lib Dem Councillor on the Committee offered any support for Erdington being added onto the programme. However we forced through having the scheme widened to include our High Street, as it always should have, despite the other parties showing no interest in helping Erdington High Street!”

The scheme is paid for by a grant from the Government High Street Support Fund set up. The scheme allows people with a B-Card (you can download them from www.backingbirmingham.com/b-card or cut out of the Birmingham Mail) to get special offers at local participating shops. A list of traders is available on www.backingbirmingham.com/offers-erdington or look for the sign in shop windows!Cllr Bob Beauchamp added “this kind of scheme is vital towards encouraging people to shop local and support Erdington businesses. If we are to help make Erdington more prosperous then we must have a flourishing and growing High Street.”Cllr Gareth Moore concluded “we are working hard to secure more funding for capital projects to improve Erdington High Street’s appearance. This will hopefully not only attract more people into the area, but also some quality anchor shops to help spark the re-growth of Erdington as THE place to shop!”