Where is the creative thinking?

This week has not been a good week for the creative industries in Birmingham. It is the last week for the retail side of Jibbering Records, a record shop and music promotions company based in Moseley.
The downturn on the high street has played a major part in Jibbering deciding to shut up shop, and the closure of its record store on Alcester Road will mean Moseley will lose another independent shop, and with it part of the community identity and vibrancy that gives the area its distinctive character.
Digbeth, like Moseley, is also a "creative" hub for the city with hundreds of innovative businesses occupying places like the Custard Factory, the newly-opened Fazeley Studios and The Bond.
A smattering of bars and clubs serve the area with a non-mainstream option for nights out.
The Rainbow is one of these.
But this week Kent Davis, landlord of the pub, said that if it were to receive a noise abatement order, the pub would be forced to close as it could not afford to pay for the structural work needed to prevent noise escaping from the venue.
Mr Davis said the council's Environmental Health department had been called out on several occasions based on the complaints of just one resident living in newly-built flats in Digbeth.
This is despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of local residents do not have any problem with noise - indeed being close to venues like The Rainbow has been a draw in encouraging people to move to the area. The chairman of the local residents association described the threat to The Rainbow as "flabbergasting".
Both Moseley and Digbeth are seen as hotbeds of "creativity" - that elusive element that Birmingham City Council has in said it is trying to promote.
I interviewed Clive Dutton, Birmingham City Council director of planning and regeneration, when Mary Portas, aka BBC 2's Mary Queen of Shops, was in town last year. She was invited by the council to advise on how Birmingham can better foster independent shops in the city.
At the time Mr Dutton said: "We have to think about the sort of place you want to emulate, the places all of us visit in our spare time."
"You tend to go to places that are different and what makes them different is the different kinds of leisure and shopping experience.
The Rainbow definitely falls into the category of a venue that is a bit "different" - sadly something that is getting rarer in Birmingham.
The approach of two council departments - environmental health and planning - just doesn't square.
I appreciate that environmental health are there to do a job, and any noise complaint triggers them down a trajectory that is laid down for them.
But this is an issue which needs to be addressed higher up at the council, which seriously needs to ask itself how it is actually fostering an independent and creative spirit in Birmingham.
The case of Jibbering Records goes to show that small independents are already battling the headwinds of a deep recession, which is surely also affecting the bottom line at The Rainbow.
In an economic environment like this, Digbeth could do without being crushed the myopic approach of a local authority. If not, we will be left with a Digbeth that is full of empty flats, empty pubs and empty council spin about "creativity".