Object

Representation ID: 14085

Received: 14/12/2020

Respondent: Arden Cross Ltd

Agent: Turley

Legally compliant? Yes

Sound? Yes

Duty to co-operate? Yes

The policy and its supporting text need updating and editing for consistency with new Policy UK1 and to provide clarity on the criteria against which proposals will be judged.
There is interchanging reference to ‘UK Central Solihull’ and ‘UK Central Solihull Hub Area’, both of which have different geographies. It is recommended that each is clearly defined in the pre-text to avoid misinterpretation of the scope of Policy P1. Reference to Blythe Valley, North Solihull and Solihull Town Centre should be contained to the opening section of this chapter as each is subject to separate planning policy.

The pre text to policy P1 is broadly supported however references to outdated documents should be removed. The policy should refer to WMCA’s Recharge the West Midlands (June 2020), the updated Midlands HS2 Growth Strategy (November 2020) published since the Submission Draft was finalised, and the Council’s own Economic Recovery Plan (May 2020).

A number of key development principles in the policy are drawn from a number of UGC non statutory documents. Whilst supporting the thrust of these documents, would urge consistency and clarity in how these policies will be applied in practice, in particular through a review, ideally in liaison with ACL and others, before final submission of the plan.
The following site specific elements in P1 relating to Arden Cross should be addressed: Passenger facilities no longer feature in the Birmingham Airport Masterplan 2018 and should be deleted. The phasing set out in the Hub Growth and Infrastructure Plan (January 2018) is now superceded and does not align with the current LPR plan period (2036).
The reference to the preparation of an SPD needs further clarification. It was originally envisaged there would be an update and formalisation of the Hub Framework Plan to be prepared alongside the local plan. Given the subsequent preparation of the Arden Cross Masterplan by ACL, and the more detailed combination of policies P1 and UK1, the purpose and timing of an SPD needs clarifying.