Sparkbrook is an inner-city area in south-east

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, England. It is one of the four wards forming the

Hall Green Hall Green is an area in southeast Birmingham, England, synonymous with the B28 postcode. It is also a council constituency, managed by its own district committee. Historically it lay within the county of Worcestershire. Politics Hall Green i ...

formal district within Birmingham City Council.

Etymology

The area receives its name from Spark Brook, a small stream that flowed south of the city centre. It was later channelled and partially used for a canal.

Politics

Sparkbrook ward is represented by two Labour councillors on

Birmingham City Council Birmingham City Council is the local government body responsible for the governance of the City of Birmingham in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974. It is the most populated local council area in the United Kingdom (e ...

, Mohammed Azim and Shabrana Hussain. Its former independent councillor, Talib Hussain, was elected as a Liberal Democrat but resigned from the party after being sacked from the council's cabinet.

Geography

Project Champion

Project Champion is a project to install a £3m network of 169 Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras to monitor vehicles entering and leaving Sparkbrook and

Washwood Heath Washwood Heath is a ward in Birmingham, within the formal district of Hodge Hill, roughly two miles north-east of Birmingham city centre, England. Washwood Heath covers the areas of Birmingham that lie between Nechells, Bordesley Green, Stec ...

. Its implementation was frozen in June 2010 amid allegations that the police deliberately misled councillors about its purpose, after it was revealed that it was being funded as an

anti-terrorism Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or el ...

initiative, rather than for 'reassurance and crime prevention'. The campaign was spearheaded by a local activist called Steve Jolly, who 'wrote an article for a local magazine, started a petition and lobbied MPs and councillors to denounce the spy-cam scheme', he was proactive in contacting the media, it was Steve Jolly who made Paul Lewis of The Guardian aware of this issue. When Paul Lewis wrote his article, it sparked national and international debate on Project Champion, this then led to massive public resistance to Project Champion, which eventually led to it being stopped. West Midlands Police were forced into making an apology. Chief Constable Simms said: "I am sorry that we got such an important issue so wrong and deeply sorry that it has had such a negative impact on our communities."

Places of interest

Many of the churches within Sparkbrook were constructed in the late 19th century and early 20th century. One of the most prominent churches in the area is St Agatha's Church on the Stratford Road, consecrated in 1901. It is a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. Christ Church, on the corner of Grantham Road and Dolobran Road, was one of the oldest churches in the area, being consecrated in 1867. The spire belonging to the tower was removed in 1918, and following a bomb blast in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the tower was demolished. In 1927, The Diocesan Home for Girls received a licence permitting public worship within the building. Following damage caused by the Birmingham Tornado 28 July 2005 the church was demolished. However the Christ Church has been rebuilt in 2013 after being destroyed by the tornado in 2005. The Health centre that is on the site of the Christ church has been rebuilt in 2012. Lloyd's Farmhouse 1

Consecrated in the same year as St Agatha's Church, Emmanuel Church, was a chapel of ease to Christ Church until it received its own parish in 1928. Located within the church is an ancient blank bell from Ullenhall. Ladypool Road mission hall was opened in 1894 by the Sparkbrook Gospel Mission (founded 1886). In 1849, a group called the Methodist New Connexion, opened a chapel in the area, their first for 11 years along with a similar chapel on Bridge Street in the city centre. Lloyd House is a

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

building situated on Sampson Road. It was built between 1742 and 1752 by

Sampson Lloyd Sampson Lloyd II (15 May 1699 – 1779) was an English iron manufacturer and banker, who co-founded Lloyds Bank. He was a member of the notable Lloyd family of Birmingham. Career Sampson Lloyd was the third son of Sampson Lloyd (1664� ...

, the founder of

Lloyds Bank Lloyds Bank plc is a British retail banking, retail and commercial bank with branches across England and Wales. It has traditionally been considered one of the "Big Four (banking), Big Four" clearing house (finance), clearing banks. Lloyds B ...

. The building is used as offices by the Bromford Corinthia Housing Association. In 1780, Sparkbrook was the home of

Joseph Priestley Joseph Priestley (; 24 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was an English chemist, natural philosopher, separatist theologian, grammarian, multi-subject educator, and liberal political theorist. He published over 150 works, and conducted exp ...

, one of the founding fathers of modern chemistry. In 1791, his mansion was partially destroyed in what became known as the

Priestley riots The Priestley Riots (also known as the Birmingham Riots of 1791) took place from 14 July to 17 July 1791 in Birmingham, England; the rioters' main targets were religious dissenters, most notably the politically and theologically controversial Jo ...

. It stood on what is now Priestley Road.

Unemployment

The

late 2000s recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At t ...

resulted in Sparkbrook and

Small Heath Small Heath is an area in south-east Birmingham, West Midlands, England situated on and around the Coventry Road about from the city centre. History Small Heath, which has been settled and used since Roman times, sits on top of a small hill. ...

ward having the eighth highest level of unemployment in Britain in 2009, with 12.9% (more than one in eight) of its residents being registered unemployed. Only

Ladywood Ladywood is an inner-city district next to central Birmingham. Historically in Warwickshire, in June 2004, Birmingham City Council conducted a citywide "Ward Boundary Revision" to round-up the thirty-nine Birmingham wards to forty. As a result o ...

had a higher rate of unemployment in the

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

Demographics

The 2001 Census recorded that 31,485 people were living in the ward. Sparkbrook has the second highest non-white population in Birmingham, with a total of 78%2001 Census
/ref> minority ethnic residents living in the mainly terraced area; notably it is home to a large Somali population. Sparkbrook is also the location of Birmingham's "

Balti Triangle A balti or bāltī gosht ( ur, , hi, बाल्टी गोश्त) is a type of curry served in a thin, pressed-steel wok called a "balti bowl". The name may have come from the metal dish in which the curry is cooked, rather than from a ...

", and many of the residents have their own balti businesses.

References

External links

Birmingham City Council: Sparkbrook WardSparkbrook Community NetworkSparkbrook Tornado July 2005
{{Authority control Areas of Birmingham, West Midlands Somalian diaspora in the United Kingdom Former wards of Birmingham, West Midlands