Comment

Representation ID: 10497

Received: 15/03/2019

Respondent: IM Land

Agent: Turley

IM owns and manages Mell Square shopping centre, which occupies a 5.3 hectare site in Solihull Town Centre.
Changes in the retail market means there is a major potential opportunity to redevelop Mell Square as part of a comprehensive masterplan for the revitalisation of the Town Centre to protect its prosperity moving forward.
IM is pleased that the Council has recognised there is opportunity to 'restructure' Solihull Town Centre
through the preparation of a refreshed masterplan which will highlight opportunities for alternative uses
and to provide positive opportunity for reinvention. However, IM would like to see greater recognition
within the Local Plan of the importance of the opportunity for redevelopment in the Town Centre, and the role that redevelopment can play in meeting the needs of the Borough, including the 'supergrowth' associated with HS2.
Through improved connectivity between Solihull Town Centre and the UK Central 'Hub', the Town Centre can continue to thrive and could provide an important contribution towards meeting the ambitions for growth within the Borough as a whole. This will require a more ambitious approach to the
redevelopment of the Town Centre, including a detailed review of car parking requirements within the centre and consideration of the opportunity for intensification through higher density development in accordance with paragraph 123(a) of the NPPF.
IM is keen to proactively engage and collaborate with the Council to discuss the role the Town Centre can play in the spatial strategy for the Borough, and in particular, the scale of opportunity available through the redevelopment of Mell Square. IM would be interested to understand the Council's timescales for the preparation of a 'refreshed' Town Centre Masterplan and how this will feed in to the
preparation of the Local Plan.