Local Development Plan - Proposed Housing Allocation18

As a local resident of many years, I write to you illustrating my real concerns surrounding the proposed development on the Rugby ground situated on Sharmans Cross Road, Solihull.

This is the second occasion in the last six years that attempts have been made to develop a site owned by Solihull Council that has always been used for a sporting purpose.

The current owner of the old Rugby Club clearly bought the premises in order to develop the land that was the rugby pitches, having no intention to continue with it as a sporting facility.

It is now up to the council to make sure that the owner does not achieve his goal. He has now come with a new proposition in trying to persuade the Tennis Club to move to the site where the Rugby pitches are, so that he may now place the houses on the site of the current tennis club. What this actually means is that Solihull, voted the best place to live a short while ago, will in effect loose an important site that should be used for a sporting facility. Solihull is still one of the best places to live in the country and we should ensure that we do not loose these sporting facilities in Solihull.

I also wish to raise that the proposition will increase the volume of traffic on Sharmans Cross Road to such an extent that it will cause a danger to pedestrians in the area and in addition a danger to cyclists, as I understand that this is a designated cycle route.

I am a keen cyclist myself, and the current facilities are woefully inadequate, and yet considering this development can only make matters much worse and dangerous.

The development will also increase the parking in Sharmans Cross Road which is not adequately wide enough to support any additional parking facilities in this area.

I also wish to point out that the immediate and surrounding area of this site is subject to raised water levels. Many of the houses were built on land around Alderbrook and has always been subject to high levels of water around Welcombe Grove, Rollswood and Arley Road.
To place what would be two acres of concrete forming this new development would only serve to raise the water levels around this site further.

Solihull Council must listen to there local communities and should ensure that land that is primarily for sporting purposes should not be lost, particularly when there are adequate brownfield sites around the Borough that could be used as an alternative.