Perry Barr

This summary reflects the Atlas' current understanding of the ward based on the evidence analysed so far.

Overview

Sources:ONSAI-assistedCivic Atlas

Summary

Perry Barr appears, based on the organisations currently reviewed by the Civic Atlas, to have a notably strong network of youth, sport and community-based activity, alongside a growing role as a delivery area for housing, family-support, wellbeing and neighbourhood-network services. The clearest opportunity may be to connect these assets more deliberately: much of the support visible in the evidence is complementary, but is delivered through separate venues, organisations and referral routes.

Context

The ward’s 2019 employment-deprivation score is 9.5%, although the supplied evidence does not provide a comparator that would show how this relates to Birmingham or England. The available organisational evidence identifies several active Perry Barr sites and programmes, but it should not be treated as a complete map of civic life across the ward. In particular, some evidence shows direct activity in Perry Barr, while other evidence only shows that Perry Barr is within a wider service area or partnership geography.

See observations

Profile

Political power: Liberal Democrats

IMD: 9.5%

Civic organisations (22)

The Atlas has evidence of 22 organisations operating here.

Show results • 22 of 22 organisations

Discoveries involving organisations in this ward

Observations

Sources:Civic AtlasAI-assisted

  • Perry Barr has an unusually layered youth-development ecosystem, but its assets appear to sit in parallel

    The evidence shows several distinct routes through which children and young people can build confidence, skills, relationships and leadership: BMX cycling, football, Scouts, maritime cadets, youth activity at Trehurst Community Centre, church-based youth work and family support. These are not simply duplicate offers. They use different forms of participation — sport, outdoor learning, disciplined group activity, mentoring, volunteering and informal community space. This suggests that Perry Barr may have stronger youth-development capacity than a simple count of youth organisations would imply. What is less visible is how easily a young person, parent or frontline worker can move between these routes when one activity is not the right fit.

    Why it matters

    A more connected pathway could turn separate activities into a local progression system: for example, from family support into group activity, from youth clubs into volunteering or coaching, or from sport into mentoring and leadership. The opportunity is not necessarily to create another youth service, but to make the existing variety more navigable and mutually reinforcing.

    Show evidence

    • Birmingham BMX Club operational-area review:
      The club has a current Perry Barr delivery base at the BMX track in Perry Park, with recurring coaching, open-track and training sessions.

    • Continental Star Football Club operational-area review:
      Continental Star FC uses Holford Drive Sports Hub in Perry Barr for football camps and coaching courses, alongside its wider mentoring, education and career-development aims.

    • Tame Valley District Scout Council operational-area review:
      The district identifies Perry Barr within its north-Birmingham area and records active Scout provision at St John's Church Centre, alongside wider district provision across nearby wards.

    • Trehurst Community Centre charity record and Perry Barr Ward Action Plan:
      Reported activities include youth clubs, sports, advice and groups for children with additional needs and their parents; the ward plan also identified reintroducing the Trehurst youth club as an objective.

  • The ward is becoming a delivery ground for organisations whose main infrastructure lies elsewhere

    Perry Barr is not only served by locally based organisations. It is also a named operational area for several organisations headquartered elsewhere in Birmingham or beyond it: Home-Start provides family support to Perry Barr families; Birmingham Opera Company identifies Perry Barr as one of its four current collaboration hubs; Bethel includes the ward in its Health Champions geography; SACMHF names Perry Barr residents in its bereavement and wellbeing service; and St Anne's and Spring Housing are involved through the Perry Barr Neighbourhood Network Scheme. This may indicate that the ward is sufficiently connected, visible or strategically prioritised to attract a diverse set of programmes. At the same time, many of these services do not publish a fixed Perry Barr venue or local delivery volume.

    Why it matters

    This creates both an opportunity and a risk. Perry Barr may be able to draw on wider city and regional expertise without having to build every capability locally. But residents and local groups may encounter a fragmented landscape of visiting, partnership-based or referral-led support. A shared local point of connection could make external capacity more accessible and accountable to local priorities.

    Show evidence

    • Home-Start Birmingham-North West operational-area review:
      Home-Start explicitly identifies Perry Barr as part of its current family-support area, including home-based volunteer support, although no fixed venue in the ward is identified.

    • Birmingham Opera Company operational-area review:
      The company's current Four Hubs programme identifies Perry Barr as one of four collaboration areas for bespoke targeted events and year-round participation activity.

    • Sandwell African Caribbean Mental Health Foundation operational-area review:
      Its Birmingham Bereavement and Wellbeing Service explicitly identifies bereaved carers living in Perry Barr as eligible for one-to-one wellbeing support.

    • St Anne's Hostel and Spring Housing operational-area reviews:
      Both organisations are evidenced in Perry Barr through the Birmingham Adult Social Care-funded Perry Barr Neighbourhood Network Scheme, supporting community assets, wellbeing and local connections.

  • Perry Barr’s civic infrastructure is distributed across practical everyday venues rather than concentrated in one hub

    The available evidence points to a network of specialised but potentially complementary places: Perry Park’s BMX track, Holford Drive Sports Hub, St John's Church Centre, Trehurst Community Centre, Alexander Stadium, the One Stop Market Village Community Hub and the Living Stones Pantry. These venues serve different populations and purposes — recreation, advice, worship, food support, youth activity, sport and community connection. This distributed pattern may be a strength: residents can encounter support through ordinary local destinations rather than only through formal service buildings. However, it may also make the local offer difficult to see as a connected whole.

    Why it matters

    The places themselves may be an underused collaboration asset. Shared information, referral routes, outreach sessions or joint events across these sites could reach people who would not approach a specialist service directly. This may be particularly valuable for families, young people, older residents and people experiencing financial pressure who are already using one of these locations for another reason.

    Show evidence

    • Birchfield Community Association operational-area review:
      The association directly delivers energy advice and participates in the Market Village Community Hub at Perry Barr One Stop Shopping Centre.

    • Living Stones Christian Life and Media Centre operational-area review:
      The organisation runs Sunday activity and a weekly Perry Barr Pantry providing affordable food, household essentials and free hygiene products.

    • Cedar Church operational-area review:
      Cedar Church’s recurring Sunday family service is evidenced at Alexander Stadium in Perry Barr.

    • St John's, Perry Barr, 236th Birmingham Scout Group operational-area review:
      The group holds regular Beaver, Cub and Scout meetings at St John's Church Centre in Perry Barr.

  • Support for hardship is visible, but the route through it may be difficult to understand

    Perry Barr has evidence of several forms of support related to hardship: individual grants through Thomas Bromwich Trust; housing and homelessness-prevention support through Spring Housing and the St Anne's group; family support through Home-Start; energy advice through Birchfield Community Association; food support through Living Stones Pantry; and workplace chaplaincy at Perry Barr Garage through WorkCare. These forms of help address different pressures, but they are organised around different eligibility rules, institutions and settings. The evidence does not reveal a clear local route that helps residents recognise which support is available or move between immediate relief, advice, family support and longer-term stability.

    Why it matters

    When financial pressure overlaps with housing instability, caring responsibilities, isolation or insecure work, a disconnected service landscape can create avoidable friction. Perry Barr may already possess many of the components of a stronger safety net; the practical question is whether they are linked well enough for residents to benefit before a problem escalates.

    Show evidence

    • Thomas Bromwich Trust operational-area review:
      The Trust's current activity description names Perry Barr as an area for individual grants in cases of financial hardship, and its Perry Barr subcommittee made 33 grants in 2024-25.

    • Spring Housing Association operational-area review:
      Spring Housing is evidenced as a Perry Barr Neighbourhood Network Scheme delivery partner, while its stated aims include preventing homelessness, poverty and social isolation.

    • Living Stones Christian Life and Media Centre operational-area review:
      The Living Stones Pantry operates weekly in Perry Barr and provides affordable food, household essentials and free hygiene products.

    • WorkCare West Midlands operational-area review:
      A November 2025 update records chaplains being commissioned to serve Perry Barr Garage for National Express West Midlands.

    Remaining uncertainties

  • The supplied coverage field records 0% reviewed organisations, despite detailed operational-area assessments being available for many named organisations. This inconsistency means the completeness of the reviewed picture cannot be established from the dataset alone.
  • Several organisations are evidenced as serving Perry Barr through a programme geography, partnership or home-based support model, rather than through a fixed site in the ward. This should not be interpreted as evidence of equal activity throughout Perry Barr.
  • The evidence does not show which organisations have active referral arrangements, shared beneficiaries, formal partnerships or coordinated delivery within the ward.
  • There is limited current information about the scale of participation, demographic reach, waiting times, unmet demand or geographic distribution of users within Perry Barr.
  • The 2019 employment-deprivation score provides context, but no comparator or more recent deprivation evidence is supplied.

    Additional evidence needed

  • A current ward-level map or timetable of regular activities, advice sessions, food support, youth provision, family support and wellbeing services, including host venues and accessibility information.
  • Evidence from local organisations and residents about referral pathways, unmet demand and whether people can readily move between youth, family, hardship, housing and wellbeing support.
  • Current participation and catchment data, aggregated safely by neighbourhood or ward, to identify which groups and parts of Perry Barr are well reached and which are less visible.
  • Information on existing formal collaborations among Perry Barr venues and organisations, particularly between sports clubs, Scouts, community centres, faith groups, housing providers and neighbourhood-network partners.
  • More recent local socioeconomic evidence, alongside qualitative accounts from residents, to understand how employment deprivation interacts with housing need, family pressures, access to opportunities and social isolation.