WHY NOT USE THE ALDRIDGE ROAD LANDFILL SITE TO SAVE SOME MONEY FOR THE COUNCIL TAX PAYER

The Aldridge Road Land fill site in Oscott has been for many years been fenced off from public use.

The reasons for this are that this site was an unusually deep one and the nature of the terrain means the volatile gases in it will take many years to dissipate.

Having said that its location next to the Queslett Nature Reserve makes it an ideal if secluded location to the benefit of the local wild life.

However the land is expensive to maintain for example currently fire breaks have to be made (hence the cutting back of some vegetation on the site) and to protect the public from itself the land has to have a security presence on it to keep intruders out in case they harm themselves.

In this day and age when the Birmingham City Council has to deal with horrendous cuts in its budget from the central government, money needs to be found to cover costs like the manning this site which is why I am keen to promote the idea of using the site for locating some solar panels on it.

The panels would need to be unobtrusive and not affect other neighbouring residents or any wildlife and they would have to be placed where they would be safe ( naturally a risk assessment would need to be undertaken). This should not be a problem. They are I am also told fairly low maintenance free which would mean little or no extra transport issues for the area.
The current security measures on the site would also help protect any new solar panels from potential vandalism at no extra cost.

The energy obtained from these panels could either be sold into the electric grid or used to help the council’s energy bills thus helping to save the Tax payer money.

Solar panels would help generate income for the Council and be ecologically friendly. I hope this idea will be given serious consideration and I will be supporting any investigation into the possibilities of this idea.

If you have a view on this please email me on Keith.Linnecor@birmingham.gov.uk