Solihull Draft Local Plan - Arden Triangle

I would like to respond to the proposals for the Arden Triangle site.

I have lived at Barn End, 98 Grove Road, B93 0PL for the last 30 years. My home is a grade two listed and converted field barn, circa 1680, and is currently approximately ¼ mile from the nearest property. It is tiny, one bedroom, and positioned just a few feet from Grove Road and it originally served the surrounding fields as a milking parlour and dairy with hayloft above. The conversion was sympathetically carried out by myself, and given a SMBC design award in 1990. The surrounding fields in our ownership, approximately 4 acres, have been preserved and enhanced, ie the original wildflower meadow has been retained, the hedges laid and maintained, the central ditch cleared, and trees, now maturing, planted on the boundary with Norton Green Lane, thanks to a Council tree grant.

The land is a through route for wildlife, from the land to the west of Barn End, down to the corner opposite Rotten Row Farm, from there, over Grove Road to the fields of Landsdowne Farm, Cuttle Brook, and probably as far Station Road. There is plenty of evidence, and I have seen badgers, foxes, muntjac, roe (I think!) deer, barn, tawny and little owls, bats, nesting buzzards and grass snakes, to name a few.

The Arden Triangle stretches from residential in the north to decidedly rural in the south, it is wrong to consider the whole parcel as one lot, the extremes of the site should be considered differently. In my view the southern extremity is far too remote from Knowle village and should be retained as farmland. Coming from Warwick on the A4141 the Landsdowne fields open up to view at the Rotten Row corner, the planting on the road verge is sparse in winter, so the land, rising up to the north, is clearly visible, and if built on, will present an unpleasant inclined plain mounded with houses on the approach to Knowle.

The rural nature of Grove Road will also be lost. Grove Road and Barn End are much lower than the Landsdowne fields, the barn is only 1 1/2 storeys, so 2 storey (or even 3?)dwellings, will tower above, and destroy its historic setting.

Only recently have I learned about the Mind site off Station Road, Knowle. This is an extremely valuable resource which serves many in the Solihull area. They have very much kept themselves to themselves over the 20 - 25 years they have been there, so their presence is not widely known, but it would be disastrous if the site was lost in the redevelopment of the school. As well as the benefits to the service users, it is also of benefit to the environment, and surely, with the increase in population across the borough, it's services will be in even more demand. It is a gem that should be retained, the Council who I believe own the site, would be seen in a very poor light if it was lost.

What is the justification for building 750 houses? Is it to warrant the rebuilding of the school? The number of houses proposed has risen over the months, I don't feel that Knowle residents should be made to pay, in the loss of their existing way of life, for the construction of a brand new school. It's too high a price to pay, there must be a more modest way of updating the school to bring it to what they feel they need. Your proposals state 50% affordable housing, I feel this is too high a percentage for a rural location and don't understand how this proportion has been arrived at. If that is the percentage required, you have the wrong location! The density for the site is quoted as 16 dwellings/ha, whereas other sites are 36 dwellings/ha. How has this been calculated, has the school and Mind site, together with the open areas around the lake and brook been included in the area for calculation, thereby making the figure look better than it actually is? If so, the density does not reflect the existing properties in the surrounding area, and the development will look incongruous.

Enough has been said about the impact on the local infrastructure, but is the capacity of the sewage treatment facility in Norton Green Lane capable of servicing another possible 1000 homes? The additional houses on the Middlefield site will be connected soon, and there is already impact in the vicinity from emissions, which can be quite offensive if there's a south easterly, have existing pollution levels been measured, how will this be addressed in the future?

I realise that new houses are urgently required, but Knowle is being asked to take a disproportionately large quota, which will completely destroy the character of our village and it's rural surroundings, I respectfully ask you to reconsider the number of houses proposed, and thereby the impact on our community.