Give your views on the new Local Development Framework
The Society would welcome sight of your views, even if they are made directly to Solihull Council. Please note that responses to this forum made before 28 December 2011 were made prior to the following text being posted.
National planning policy requires every council to have a long-term plan for the development of its area. The last one prepared by Solihull is coming to the end of its life and a new one has been in preparation for the last couple of years. This will set the development policies for Solihull until 2028 and will affect every one of us. The plan has been issued several times as it has been worked on and we have commented at each stage. If you want to look at the way it has developed, these are the main stages so far:-
http://www.solihull.gov.uk/Attachments/Challenges_and_Choices.pdf ending in Jan 2009
http://www.solihull.gov.uk/Attachments/EmergingCoreStrategyFinal_forWebP... ending in Dec 2010
http://www.solihull.gov.uk/akssolihull/images/att32187.pdf published in Dec 2011 and submitted for approval by the Council.
The main issues for Knowle as we see them are the perceived need for up to 350 more houses in and around Knowle and the abandonment of the reserved line for a possible Knowle by-pass. The housing sites are:- off Four Ashes Road, off Hampton Rd, off Grove Rd on the old Middlefield hospital site. We objected to the number of houses planned for this area and argued for a significant number of them to be available for purchase at reduced prices and others to be suited to newly forming families and those people 'down-sizing'. Our initial submission on these matters and all the other points is attached below. We had some success in having our points reviewed but were very disappointed when, in the final version, the housing sites were listed as being released at once, instead of at the end of the period. The Society was allowed to make a presentation on this point to the Committee considering the document, but our plea fell on deaf ears, despite being strongly supported by two of our councillors.
There will be a final opportunity to get the Council to reverse these changes in the New Year when the final version is published for consultation. We need your comments and support in order to try and defer the new housing, so let us know by emailing planning@knowlesociety.org.uk and by contacting your Councillors.
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| CORE STRATEGY RESPONSE Dec 2010 - submitted.pdf | 65.71 KB |
F A O Leighton Jones.
As I live adjacent to the Four Ashes Road proposed development site I would like to support your proposal that Solihull council return to the drawing board.This site amongst others in the local development frame work has been under discussion/review for many years,prior to 1995 my belief was that this land was green belt however I note from the council web site that it is now classed as greenfield. I assume that after the 1995 objectors appeal/review that the council took this area of land out of green belt to then create a new more satisfying boundary i.e. straight along Four Ashes Road. It would be beneficial to this/our area if the site was returned to green belt.On meeting council officers at the Knowle library last year ,the information for this area was that it was in Phase 3 therefore if release or need for properties on this land it would be around 2021, I would hope that this is the very earliest if at all and would welcome your committees comments ,support, or thoughts on this matter. Regards Brian Timmins
I believe you are correct in saying that this site was once green belt. However in the current(and expiring) Development Plan it and two others (at Hampton Rd and Grove Rd) were designated as reserved land for long term housing use and therefore taken out of the green belt.
In the draft plan being prepared for 2011 - 2026 all three sites are allocated as housing sites, but for development in 2021 - 2026. However it was not clear how this timing could be sustained if developers applied for planning permission earlier. We recognise the pressure to allocate some land for housing but in our response to this plan (see the home page of this website) we stated:-
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In summary we would not support use of all three sites and do not see that the need to develop more than one has been demonstrated. We see the site at Four Ashes Road being the least unacceptable, followed by the Hampton Road site. Whichever site(s) are given the go-ahead it is important that any development is deferred to the end of the period, to allow the significant infrastructure issues to be satisfied before the development starts.
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We are very conscious that whichever site(s) become covered in houses it will affect the neighbours but I'm sure you'll also recognise the pressure locally and from the government to provide more housing. We will do what we can to minimise the amount of housing and defer it to the end of the period, but I would not promise to be able to succeed.
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