The leaders of a newly-formed group of Independents elected to Birmingham City Council have set out a detailed vision for a 'better Birmingham' rooted in community pride, investment and opportunity.
The new seven-councillor Better Birmingham Independent Group want to ensure deprived areas like those they represent receive the 'love, care and investment they deserve'. Harris Khaliq, newly elected to represent Ward End, has been chosen to lead the group, with Nosheen Khalid, Alum Rock, as his deputy.
In his first interview he said the group had thought deeply for weeks about how they could best contribute to rebuilding the city council after three years of financial instability and the long-running bin dispute.
The Better Birmingham Independents are now eager to be part of a ruling coalition and have been welcomed warmly into negotiations by the council's second-biggest group, the Greens, who have 19 seats, and the Liberal Democrats, who have 12 seats.
“This is about rebuilding Birmingham, and doing so in a way that finally puts residents first,” said Cllr Khaliq. “We have a real opportunity to reshape how this city is run: to create a council that is value-driven, accountable, and focused on people’s daily lives. Success for us will be clear - residents seeing real improvements, deprived communities thriving, and a council structure that works for councillors as well as residents, without concentrating power in the hands of a few.”
He added: “With the right leadership, supported by stronger structures and Deputy Cabinet Members helping deliver real change, we can restore pride, rebuild trust, and bring back the greatness that Birmingham deserves.”
The group say they are committed to bringing 'pride, investment and opportunity' back to less well-off communities. Their ambitions include improving green spaces, tackling long-neglected road safety issues, and delivering structural changes to cabinet roles and the way the council itself operates.
Coun Khaliq said: “We are committed to working constructively to bring greatness back to our city. This is what we are fighting for. Not tinkering, not managing decline, not upholding a broken status quo — but a genuine opportunity to rebuild Birmingham into a city that works for everyone. After years of pressure on services and growing inequality between communities, we now stand at a moment where real change is possible. We will not waste it.”
Key Ambitions
Modernised Cabinet Structure
A modernised cabinet structure and operating model where power is not concentrated into too few hands. This includes having deputy cabinet member roles to support delivery, rebuild capacity and ensure effective leadership across portfolios, and a council where no elected official holds disproportionate power or control.
Budget Scrutiny and Social Value
They want to ensure every decision is judged against how it improves the lives of Birmingham’s residents, with stronger budget scrutiny and challenge, a reassessment of priorities, including a review of Community Infrastructure Levy spending, and a commitment to ensure every pound delivers real social value for residents.
Ward Budgets and Green Spaces
They have also set out a plan to tackle inequality directly through a stronger model of giving each local ward a budget and influence, alongside ring fenced funding for parks and green spaces. Their model would include £25,000 per ward member fund in the most disadvantaged areas.
Leisure Centres and Clean-Ups
Leisure centres in inner city communities would see investment to open up opportunities for health, wellbeing and local groups, alongside neighbourhood clean-ups and environmental renewal. This would be backed up with the reintroduction of free bulky waste collection services annually to tackle flytipping and support residents.
Pension Fund Reform
“We believe Birmingham’s money should work for Birmingham’s people. That means challenging systems that have allowed vast sums to sit beyond the reach of residents, including the millions tied up through pension arrangements,” Coun Khaliq added, referring to the more than £500 million of surpluses paid in by Birmingham City Council to the West Midlands Pension Fund. He also issued a warning to organisations sitting on public funds, saying his group was 'committed to reclaiming residents’ money from overpaid financial intermediaries and investment structures'. “This is about fairness. It is about responsibility. And it is about making sure public money serves the public good,” he added.
Road Safety and Bin Strike
Also pledged was an increase in road safety and active travel investment, a targeted programme to repair roads and pavements, prioritising safety and neglected areas, and resolving the bin strike in a way that delivers value to residents, ensuring a reliable, fair and sustainable service for the city.
Climate Action
In line with Greens and the Liberal Democrats, the group also pledged action to tackle climate change in ways that are 'practical, fair, and rooted in everyday life.' This includes reducing Birmingham’s carbon footprint through real, accessible action, including discounts for drop kerbs for households installing electric vehicle chargers and supporting residents to make greener choices without placing additional financial burdens on them.
“This is about doing politics differently,” Coun Khaliq added.
Group Members
Group member Taj Uddin was the Independent victor in the ward of Lozells, previously held by Labour's Waseem Zaffar until his untimely death. Labour chose to put Waseem's sister Samarah up for the seat to capitalise on the outpouring of grief that followed and continue his legacy, but the party was undone by Uddin's strong community-focussed campaign. An accountant, he has lived in Lozells since emigrating from Bangladesh in 2001.
Also in the group is Abdul Choudhury Shumon, representing Aston. An entrepreneur, he is founder of a personal injury claims firm, a member of the Bangladesh Council and advisor to Birmingham Sporting Club. He also supports Bengali news and TV organisations and is on the board of a housing association in the city.
Adnan Hussain, representing Bordesley Green, is a solicitor. Shaukat Mahmood is well known in his ward of Alum Rock and involved in various community events and mosques, and co-founded Birmingham Mega Mela. The final group member is Jamil Khan, representing Sparkbrook and Balsall Heath East, who runs a property letting company.
