Object

Solihull Local Plan (Draft Submission) 2020

Representation ID: 11260

Received: 22/11/2020

Respondent: Mrs Fiona Holland

Legally compliant? Not specified

Sound? Not specified

Duty to co-operate? Not specified

Representation Summary:

Significant issues relating to the environment have been raised; wildlife (woodland bird) otters, fauna and flooding are majors constraints as evidenced in the Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council Additional Site Options Ecological Assessment dated December 2019. So too is the high biodiversity value and rarity of ancient semi natural woodland represented "upmost importance " to retain these is documented within the report.
2. Historical Landscape Character; Hockley Heath is a very small village. The proposal is not conducive to the needs of the village and the existing shortcomings that already exist - basic services are not currently provided - Doctors surgery, post office, just one grocery shop etc. and the recent large scale builds of shared ownership and social housing at Blythe Valley have already impacted traffic/road usage/pollution.
3. The village already has very recent housing developments and social housing to accommodate the residents.
4. The infrastructure required is not in any way proportionate to the development of 90 dwellings the plan could provide in a more established environment

Change suggested by respondent:

The plan should not include the land in Hockley Heath at this time where other more established areas/ sites have been identified within the plan for the reasons outlined above "Hockley will required protection" and the reasons clearly highlighted within section 662-667. The plan clearly identifies the need for the village to be protected from excessive development and whilst the proposal of 90 dwellings in isolation appears proportionate in order to maintain the character and so forth, the items identified in order to provide the necessary infrastructure needed viable are not proportionate and do not consider the natural environment; the traffic adjustments as a key example. The plan should remove Hockley Heath from its proposals.

Full text:

The plan has focussed on the basic principles of housing development such as schooling, traffic flow and provision of a doctors surgery. However, it has omitted to make reference to 1) the abundance of wildlife within the land earmarked. This is evidenced by the regular sightings of the many families of Muntjac deer, wild birds, otters and Hedgehogs and secondly , the 2) flooding of this land and road ( something highlighted from local searches when we had a property survey completed).The housing requirement doesn't have any robust evidence into terms of how it has been calculated? For example; Is it based on the requirement of positive need, ie, a need for social or affordable housing, a need for sheltered housing, and whether the new houses will be provided by the council or housing associations or if it is developer led where housing is based on the profits method.

Any development will change the historic landscape character of this area from its present state which consists of paddocks and closes with good survival of field boundaries since the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map.
Planning Recommendations for the PSS:
A programme of archaeological assessment should be undertaken, the first phases of which should comprise detailed desk-based (including a walkover survey) and geophysical survey. This should include an assessment of the impacts of the proposed development upon any historic buildings which survive across and in the vicinity of the application site. This should be followed by a programme of evaluative fieldwork, including fieldwalking and trial trenching, the scope of which should be informed by the results of the earlier surveys. This fieldwork should be undertaken prior to the determination of any planning application in order to provide sufficient information to enable a reasoned and informed planning decision to be made. The archaeological evaluation will inform the development of a strategy, if appropriate, to mitigate the potential archaeological impact of the proposed development; this strategy may include designing the development to avoid impacting archaeological deposits of national significance which are worthy of conservation.
The Historic Landscape Character of this area should be taken into account when considering any planning application for this site.
The plan also omits reference to the following; air quality, pollution etc, more cars on road. What will be done to provide the additional school places /bus services to senior schools given there is no secondary school in the village
. The development will require the implementation of a full functional doctors practice/dentist and and capacity to cope with more residents. There have been several recent developments in School Road and nearby Aylesbury Road. There is also a recent social housing development opposite the Hockley Heath memorial hall. There is also a risk of buy to let expansion so what arrangements are going to be imposed to prevent speculative buy to let investors buying up new properties and renting out at full market rents?
Further more, what control over design and appearance of new homes? Can there be house build, design and materials used like Poundbury in Dorset to make use of local materials and resources and to provide character to enhance the area rather than more bland infill development.
And also what measures will be applied to prevent ribbon development?