Solihull Council Local Plan
More housing proposed and
community facilities at risk
As most of you will know, Solihull Council’s Local Plan proposes two new, large housing development sites in Knowle – at Hampton Road (KN1) and the ‘Arden Triangle’ (KN2). Importantly, proposals for the Arden Triangle include relocating the Arden Academy and developing a new primary school; and for Hampton Road, a relocated football club adjacent to the larger of the two areas identified for development.
The KDBH Neighbourhood Forum attended all relevant sessions of the Public Examination to raise concerns regarding the density of development and impacts on the character of the area and local infrastructure.
Central to our case is the need to deliver the community benefits (a new secondary school, primary school and football club) if housing development on Green Belt land is deemed essential.
The Council has recently proposed further changes affecting the Knowle sites. They have updated their ‘housing trajectory’, increasing housing numbers on some sites by 10%. This means the Hampton Road site increases by a further 18 houses to 198; and the Arden Triangle by 60 houses to 660.
Of particular concern is that:
The Council has apparently accepted the developers’ case that more houses can be built on these sites and ignored residents’ objections about density and local character;
and:-
the promoters of the Arden Triangle site have confirmed they have no intention of making land available for a relocated secondary school; and stated that financial contributions towards improvements to the existing academy and a new primary school have yet to be justified. They propose housing numbers significantly in excess even of the revised Council ‘housing trajectory’.
‘It is our view that the additional 60 houses proposed by the revised stepped trajectory is entirely deliverable, and indeed an increase above 660 houses is also deliverable – potentially in the order of 800 houses. This is however predicated upon the Arden Academy not being re-provided as a policy requirement of KN2.”
Letter dated June 2022 – Cerda Planning on behalf of Kler Group – Matter 12 – Housing land supply – document reference M12-055
These changes, if approved, are so far removed from what the community understood the proposals to mean for KDBH that it is important we alert residents to how things now stand.
What is the Forum Doing?
The Planning Inspectors are holding another hearing session on 8 July to consider these (and other) proposals.
Your Forum has again submitted objections and will be attending the hearing on behalf of the community. We must then await the Inspectors’ report.
What Can Residents Do?
If you share these concerns, now is the time for action. Please: pass this information on to as many people as you can; and make your views known to your local councillors (emails below) as soon as possible – and in advance of the hearing session on 8 July.
Dorridge / Bentley Heath Ward Councillors
icourts@solihull.gov.uk
amackiew@solihull.gov.uk
kmeeson@solihull.gov.uk
Knowle Ward Councillors
dhallen@solihull.gov.uk
dave.pinwell@solihull.gov.uk
arebeiro@solihull.gov.uk
This message is being forwarded to Knowle Society Members as we believe that it is vital to the future of the area that these amended plans are resisted with utmost force.