Litter worries ahead of major athletics event

It is another sunny day in Perry Barr, the Birmingham suburb home to the Alexander Stadium, where the European Athletics Championships 2026 begin on Monday.

But Camelia Paton-Devine, whose family have owned a house here since the 1970s, cannot enjoy it.

She says, despite raising the issue more than once with local councillors and her MP, the area looks neglected and unloved.

"Look at the state of the place, it's embarrassing," she told me.

"That thousands of people will be coming here and seeing it as a representation of the city is shocking."

Hundreds of Europe's best athletes will be taking part in the championships over the next few days, with the events screened on the BBC, on TV, radio and online.

Extra street cleaning was being carried out in the area ahead of the championships, a spokesperson for Birmingham City Council said.

With Paton-Devine, we have taken a walk down Wellington Road where she lives, to the junction with the main A34 and the small parade of shops that has seen better days.

Litter blows in the breeze and there is leftover food waste on the pavement.

Just across the road is a large area of wasteland that appears to be being used as some form of habitation, and a plastic bag full of something I am not sure that I want to discover, hanging from the bushes.

Pushing up against that land is the busy Perry Barr railway station, which will see the arrival of many spectators over the coming days.

Paton-Devine said there have been some attempts recently to clear fly-tipping by the city council but it was not enough.

"It's just sad, it's looks like a rubbish tip," she told me.

"People ask me why do I live here and I tell them 'I have a nice house, it's convenient, I want to live here'.

"But as residents, we're not getting the service we're entitled to."

She also told me she understood the ongoing bin strike in Birmingham might be making the problem worse, but felt it was no excuse for the extent of the mess.

As we talk and do some filming, we were approached numerous times by other residents who felt just as strongly about the current state of the area.

One man told me that changes made for the Commonwealth Games in 2022 have made the situation worse not better in his opinion, with many flats originally built for the athlete's village - which never materialised - still unoccupied.

He added that high levels of visible drug use and "more than our share" of HMOs (Houses of Multiple Occupancy) were adding to the feel of neglect.

Others told me that it was particularly bad in the place where we were standing, and not all of Perry Barr was the same.

Local artist Rueben Hutchinson lives just down the road, nearer to the Alexander Stadium itself.

The 21-year-old said, while his street was relatively tidy, the route he took to the station or the bus was often full of litter.

But he thought many people in the area have become used to it and have other issues in their lives to worry about.

"It's not really the most welcoming site to look at, or the most clean or uplifting, but I've gotten used to it - which might not be the best thing," he admitted.

"I just don't think there's anything I can do."

For Paton-Devine, it was also about individual pride in where you lived, and she said everyone should be taking more responsibility.

But that was harder to do, she said, when the starting point was such a low bar.

"It's about wellbeing and mental health too, people need to see the place they live as worth it," she added.

"Decline isn't something that should be normalised."

As the host of the championships, the city council wanted to make sure Perry Barr was presented well to everyone, a spokesperson said.

As well as the extra street cleaning, "the area around Perry Barr train station and Wellington Road (where teams could gain access) was deep cleaned on 30 July".

"Key routes including Walsall Road, Aldridge Road and Church Road have been deep cleaned."

Extra litter picking would be carried out during the championships and fly-tipping removed, with particular attention on the main routes to arrive at the event, they added.

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