Removing abandoned vehicles
We've responded to concerns raised by residents and businesses with a multi-agency operation around Grice Street and Bullock Street in an industrial estate in West Bromwich.
The high-visibility operation brought together officers from across the council alongside West Midlands Police and West Midlands Fire Service to reply to concerns about waste and safety.
Waste was cleared and abandoned, untaxed and unroadworthy vehicles were removed. We will continue to closely monitor the area and take action where needed.
Watch our video of the operation.
Advice on how to report anti-social behaviour in Sandwell.
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Road safety projects – responding to residents' concerns
Sandwell Council has begun work on a series of 38 new priority road safety projects across the borough as part of its Community Road Safety Concern Programme this year.
Six are already completed or nearing completion, including new traffic signals with pedestrian call button facilities at Newton Road/Monksfield Avenue in Great Barr and traffic calming in Cherry Tree Avenue and surrounding roads on Yew Tree Estate. More projects are on the way.
Over the past 25 years, Sandwell has halved the number of casualties on its roads, including reducing child casualties by 60 per cent. This significant reduction follows a long-term programme of targeted engineering measures, road safety education, and support for police enforcement action.
The council is continuing this work through its Community Road Safety Concern Programme, which focuses on locations where residents, councillors and MPs have raised repeated safety concerns – even in places where accident records have not previously met the thresholds set out in the council’s Strategic Road Safety Plan 2024–2030.
Read more about Sandwell's Community Road Safety Concern Programme.
We have also installed additional signage of the 20mph speed limit in Westmorland Road in Hateley Heath in response to feedback from local residents. This new signage was funded by Councillor Paul Moore and Councillor Amardeep Singh through their ward councillor budgets.
For any road safety concerns, you can email our road safety team, including your name and address, log an enquiry via My Sandwell or call 0121 368 1177.
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Road safety sessions
As part of Road Safety Week activities – our road safety education officers held sessions across Sandwell to share tips and advice to help keep children safe.
One of the sessions was at Ryders Green Primary School in Greets Green and Lyng ward, where children put up their winning banner promoting safer parking.
Meanwhile, Councillor Dalel Singh Bhamra, through his ward councillor budget, has funded road safety projects taking place this spring at All Saints Primary, Grove Vale Primary, Pennyhill Primary and St Mary Magdalene CofE Primary.
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 Green hit squads' hard at work
Since October, our 'green hit squads' have been hard at work across all of Sandwell's six towns, tackling long-standing ‘grot spot’ areas and making our neighbourhoods cleaner, greener and safer.
This year we’ve invested £250,000 focusing on places that have traditionally been problem spots, transforming them into spaces the whole community can be proud of.
The photo above shows Cypress Gardens, Yew Tree Estate, before and after a visit from a 'green hit squad'. Another big tidy-up was at Mason Street walkway, pictured below.
These are just two of the dozens of 'green hit squad' clean-ups across West Bromwich, with visible differences made in each ward.
Watch the video to see the difference made across Sandwell and the reaction from our residents.
Big improvements for parks and green spaces
We're proud to be investing this year to improve parks and green spaces across Sandwell.
You've told us how much these spaces mean to you, and this investment is helping to make them greener, safer and more enjoyable for residents of all ages.
An example of better facilities is the improved tennis courts at Red House Park in Great Barr, one of a number we have improved across Sandwell.
We have also upgraded the Red House community pavilion
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And it's not just in parks where we are making improvements.
We have also installed new footpaths and carried out a clean-up at Kenrick Park Allotments.
These are just two examples of what's been achieved so far, with even more exciting improvements planned to keep Sandwell's parks and green spaces thriving.
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We're improving the way we tackle anti-social behaviour
Sandwell Council is investing over £1million in a strengthened, borough-wide anti-social behaviour (ASB) service.
The aim is to make it easier for residents to report concerns, access support and see problems resolved more effectively.
At the heart of the new service is a single point of contact for ASB, giving residents one clear and consistent 'front door'. Reports will be triaged in a structured way and managed end to end by a dedicated borough-wide team, ensuring clearer ownership, quicker responses and more consistent outcomes.
Read more about the strengthened service.
 CCTV helping towards a safer West Brom
Last year Sandwell Council delivered a major upgrade to the CCTV network in West Bromwich town centre as part of a wider effort to tackle crime, anti-social behaviour (ASB) and improve how safe people feel.
The investment has replaced 30 ageing cameras with new high-definition, wireless technology, providing sharper images, improved reliability and wider coverage across key crime and ASB hotspots.
The enhanced system will play a vital role in identifying offenders, supporting police investigations and deterring criminal behaviour.
These improvements directly support Sandwell’s Community Safety Strategy 2022–26, which prioritises tackling crime and ASB. They also respond to findings from the Sandwell Residents’ Survey, which revealed that some residents feel unsafe in West Bromwich town centre during the day, and a higher proportion feel unsafe at night.
The new CCTV system aims to address these concerns, improving both actual safety and perceptions of safety across the town centre.
Working with residents to stop anti-social behaviour
We've been working to address concerns raised about anti-social behaviour in West Bromwich Central ward, after hearing residents' reports about poor behaviour, fly-tipping and speeding.
A meeting was held in January at Kenrick Park Community Centre so residents could talk directly to police, the council’s environmental protection and anti-social behaviour teams, local councillors and the local MP.
All agencies are now monitoring the situation and will be holding a walkabout so residents can show us any issues directly.
Anti-social behaviour includes any behaviour that causes harassment, alarm, distress or serious nuisance to others. It may be targeted at individuals, groups or affect the wider community.
Advice on how to report anti-social behaviour in Sandwell.
Setting up a residents' group
If you feel that there are local issues which you don’t know how to resolve, then one solution might be to ask your local councillor or ward co-ordinator whether you could help to set up a residents' working group.
The first step is to make sure that you have informed councillors, ward co-ordinators or Sandwell Council about the issue and then we can help you and your neighbours to come together to make a change for the better. Here are some recent examples of how we have achieved this to solve local issues.
Newton – Scott Arms working group
In January, councillors from the Newton ward and the local ward co-ordinator met as part of the Scott Arms working group. The group was set up last year to tackle street begging, rough sleepers and litter around the Scott Arms.
This group will continue to work together throughout this year with police and also Perry Barr councillors attending.
Birchfield Gardens – Yew Tree Estate
In late November, a resident’s group was set up to support the residents of Birchfield Gardens. The meeting was attended by local councillors from Great Barr with Yew Tree ward and a range of council officers. In January, we followed this up by holding an information session with Neighbourhood Watch.
Braeburn House – Yew Tree Estate
The first residents' group at Braeburn House, off Plane Tree Road, took place in January. Council environmental protection officers attended to answer questions about fly-tipping and littering.
Our officers in the neighbourhoods team will be attending every six to eight weeks with different ‘spotlight sessions' to help and support the residents. Our next topic will focus on anti-social behaviour – we will update you on any local issues raised in our next newsletter.
Organised litter picks
Another great way to support your community is to help to organise or take part in a local litter pick.
These are supported by our partners Litter Watch, an award-winning community-led charity, supported by Sandwell Council and Serco.
Two inspiring examples of how this can work are:
- A litter pick held near St Mary Magdalene CE Primary School. A staggering 200 people attended and over 10 bags of rubbish were collected. Neighbourhood and road safety education officers supported the event. A big thank you to all the children and everyone who took part.
- A resident in Living Well Street highlighted to local councillors and the senior ward co-ordinator that their estate was regularly becoming littered. Our neighbourhood officer worked with Litter Watch to carry out a litter pick where seven bags of litter were collected.
If you think litter is a problem in your area of West Bromwich, in the first instance please contact the council online to report it.
Find out more about the amazing work that Litter Watch do.
 Buying books in the National Year of Reading
2026 is the National Year of Reading! This is a UK-wide campaign designed to help more people rediscover the joy of reading.
You will see various events organised by the council, especially in our libraries and schools.
To kick us off in West Bromwich, 336 new children's books have been funded for Stone Cross Library through Councillor Kay Millar's ward councillor budget to ignite a love of reading in the next generation.
Councillor Keith Allcock, Councillor Saj Ashraf and Councillor Elaine Giles have funded new books for Hamstead Library using their ward councillor budget, with Councillor Michaela Allcock funding new books at Great Barr Library.
Councillor Les Trumpeter has funded new books at Grove Vale Primary, All Saints Primary, St Mary Magdalene CofE Primary and Pennyhill Primary.
Street racers taken to court
We've now taken 14 drivers to court for breaching the street racing injunction in Sandwell, and 11 of those were caught racing along Kenrick Way in West Bromwich.
We know that street racing along Kenrick Way has been a particular concern for residents. We will continue to work in partnership with the police and other councils to respond to people’s concerns and protect our communities.
The High Court has recently agreed that the injunction banning street racing across parts of the Black Country should continue.
The decision follows a review hearing in Birmingham on 26 February 2026 where the City of Wolverhampton Council, Sandwell Council and Walsall Council applied for the injunction – along with the associated power of arrest – to remain in place across all three boroughs until at least 1 March 2027.
The injunction prohibits people from taking part in street racing as a driver, rider or passenger; from promoting, organising or publicising gatherings; or from attending as a spectator. Find out more about the injunction and penalties for breaching it.
Incidents of street racing should be reported online to the council or to West Midlands Police on 101. In an emergency, always dial 999.
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Bromwich Hall conservation works
We've been carrying out essential conservation works at Bromwich Hall, a Grade I listed, timber-framed manor house located in the Hateley Heath ward and operated by Sandwell Council as a public museum.
Sandwell Council was invited to submit a bid to Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Capital Fund, securing external funding alongside match funding from the council.
Conservation works began on site in January, with Historic England-funded works due to be completed by 31 March and the remaining council-funded works by 30 June.
Read more information about the conservation works.
Find out more about what our museums have to offer.
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Have you visited the new West Bromwich indoor market yet?
The new West Bromwich Indoor Market has proved a real hit with shoppers – if you haven’t visited yet, pop along soon!
Located in the High Street, it is one of the centrepieces of our West Bromwich Masterplan to create a modern and vibrant destination for both traders and shoppers.
The new market received more than 330,000 visits in its first four months. That’s an average weekly footfall increase of more than 90 per cent compared to the same period the previous year at the old market.
Combining traditional market stalls with contemporary facilities, the market also features specialist street food in the new food court.
The indoor market is open 9am to 5pm Monday to Saturday, while the food court is open 11am to 5pm Monday to Thursday and 11am to 7pm on Fridays and Saturdays (with later opening for Friday evening concert nights).
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Apprenticeships – Making it in Sandwell!
Sandwell Council has already achieved its ambition of 100 new apprenticeships, marking a significant milestone in turning the Sandwell Story into reality.
Following the successful launch of the Making It Sandwell campaign last year, this achievement demonstrates that the council’s promises are creating real opportunities for local people to help build their careers in public service.
As the largest employer in Sandwell and a recognised Top 100 Apprenticeship Employer, the council is demonstrating its commitment to raising aspirations and delivering excellent public service.
To mark this achievement, Sandwell Council hosted a special apprenticeship event to recognise our new colleagues.
The initiative forms part of the council’s Sandwell Story, a project to celebrate, champion and bring people together in making Sandwell a great place to live, learn, work and visit. The apprenticeship programme spans a range of sectors including administration, engineering, social care and digital services, reflecting Sandwell Council’s commitment to meeting the needs of a diverse and evolving local economy.
Watch our celebration video for our new apprentices.
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