AMENITIES & SERVICES

Yardley was notably lacking in public services, as would be expected in a District which had been rural and sparsely populated until the '70's.

The R. D. C.'s administration was that of a village, and the demands on its finances of new streets and drains were crippling.

Piped water and gas and mains drainage were provided for new dwellings, but road maintenance and refuse collection were inadequate. There were no public baths, wash-houses, or libraries, and the only hospital was the Women's, in a converted villa at the top of Evelyn Road. This moved to its present buildings in 1906.

The first power station in the District was built by the City, in Evelyn Road in 1914. Fire and Police Stations had been provided by the County a few years earlier, with a Public Works Yard behind. Library and Baths were to be of City provenance, the latter not until 1931, next to the Council House.

The Yardley Charity Trust owned 333 acres of land. Thanks largely to Councillor Malins, 40 acres were given to the R. D. C. in 1898 for use as public open spaces.

Land and income were supposed to be for educational purposes; Malins promised that physical education and instruction would be given, which in practice meant swings, roundabouts, and park keepers !

The local patches were Formans Road Recreation Ground and Sparkhill Park, Due to delays while small exchanges were made to simplify the shape, the latter was not opened until 1904; it covers 16 acres, and had a much-loved pool until after World War II.

For some years before 1899 Yardley was policed from Warwickshire, of which it was always geographically a part, and there was a move then for the District's transfer wholly to that County.

It was pointed out that Yardley's connection with Worcestershire was tenuous, only one of its main roads going into the County, and that there had been no reason for the link since Pershore Abbey had ceased to hold the manor five centuries earlier. But the campaign failed, and Worcestershire regained police powers.

Twelve years later Sparkhill Station and Court House were taken over by the Birmingham Force. For two decades thereafter 'the Greet Beat' was always patrolled in pairs because of the unruliness of its inhabitants.