LAST week, parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) in Birmingham were told that their 16-18-year-old children will no longer be able to access supported transport to school or college from September. Instead they will be provided with a bus pass.

Can you imagine sending your vulnerable child with profound needs out alone, on a bus, in a city the size of Birmingham, so they can access education at their specialist school or college?  

As a proud Brummie I felt devastated when reading about the extent and brutality of the planned cuts, and it was news like this cut to Send transport that made me realise I needed to do something.

As a Send parent myself and a primary school teacher, I have many reasons to be concerned about these cuts. I have a history of campaigning and activism and knew I had to try and make a difference. 

In the build-up to the bankruptcy announcement, by Birmingham City Council in March I could see there were a number of different voices speaking up, pushing back from within their communities.

I began chatting through ideas of a joined-up campaign with colleagues and friends and we started to reach out to different groups that we knew would be affecting.

Visiting libraries and youth centres, contacting Facebook groups run by Send parents and musicians, speaking at rallies and meetings.

The aim was to draw in as many different groups as possible, to create one voice all saying the same thing: “Stop the cuts!”

And so Brum Rise Up was created. We are a coalition. A group made up of community campaigners and union members. People united against the catastrophic cuts that will devastate our city.

We want to speak with a united voice, grow a wide movement, a space where we fight back together through organising, protest and action. 

We are demanding: a reversal of the cuts and the devastation they will bring. A plan for the restoration of jobs, services and culture. A plan to protect our assets. And a plan for the government to increase council funding across the country, to protect all local authorities and their communities from future cuts. 

In April we held a successful launch meeting. The panel of speakers included Birmingham legend and historian Carl Chinn, union leaders, community campaigners and a violinist from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, which is facing 100 per cent cuts by 2025.

They showed how far-reaching these cuts will be and how deeply their implementation will affect people across the city and beyond. They made the cuts real rather than just numbers on a page. 

After speeches we facilitated planning and discussion groups around housing, youth centres, Send, libraries, adult social care and arts and culture.

The atmosphere was lively, dynamic and purposeful. Everyone left with new contacts, a job to do and a real sense of purpose around the next steps. 

Building on this, we held a large rally with Unison on May Day. This was a huge success, with speakers from Equity, the Musicians Union, the People’s Assembly and many more.

Our march through the city centre was noisy and we brought people with us chanting — “No ifs, No buts, No to council cuts.”

I think it is important to say that while Birmingham council has made mistakes it is by no means solely to blame for this bankruptcy.

Birmingham is not to blame for Croydon Council going bankrupt, or Thurrock or Hackney. Birmingham is not to blame for the one in five councils due to go bankrupt. Birmingham is not to blame for the 50 per cent of councils that are in significant financial distress.

Councils are in crisis across the country and I think we all know who is to blame! Fourteen years of Tory austerity have brought us to this place. Fourteen years of callous cuts have had a devastating impact on services in councils across the country. 

Whoever is in Parliament after the general election must commit to delivering the funding that councils need.

Our campaign has been supported by People’s Assembly and Strike Map. I believe with involvement from organisations such as these, and local unions, this collective community campaign model could easily be replicated in other areas where council cuts are hitting hard. 

We are at the beginning of a very challenging time in Birmingham, sadly it is on the back of an already very challenging time.

The reason these cuts are hitting so hard is that every single thing that could have been cut over the last 14 years, already has been. What we are seeing now is a destruction of the very soul of our city.

The fire-sale of our buildings. The closure of our libraries. An end to funding for the world-class arts and culture we offer. The removal of the most basic of services for the most vulnerable people, there is barely anything left. 

Brum Rise Up has grown from the heart of our communities and we plan to save our city, for the sake of everyone who lives here.