We are contacting you in response to the proposed housing allocation 13, for South Shirley.

The plans contain the potential for a very large amount of houses for a fairly small area in size.

Our main concerns are:

Impact to the environment:

All of the surrounding houses benefit from the bridle path and the escape to the countryside to which it gives.

This enhances health and quality of life whilst offering a safe place to exercise or walk dogs.

It also brings people together and gives a community feel.

The wildlife here would be affected by any development, which would be such a shame as we get a good variety of species over on these fields some of which are quite rare to spot in this part of the UK.

Also, many of the trees located here have been in place for many years - after destroying old trees in Shirley Park for the Parkgate development how can the council advocate this?

Large amount of houses within a small space:

Sites 4, 11, 12, 13 are all in very close proximity, with the potential of an extra 2,550 the area as it stands will not cope with that increase of people.

41% of the proposed houses are planned for Shirley. This seems an inordinate amount considering there are parts of the borough which are not having to take up this burden, but have sites that could provide adequate space for these houses without the need to destroy green field sites.

Impact on the local roads:

The roads around this area simply are not big enough to cope with extra traffic. The roads cannot cope with the traffic that currently uses them as it stands. Bills Lane connection with the Stratford Road (Staples Island) is extremely busy at peak times. I work by the airport and it can take me over 30 minutes to get into Solihull centre during these times.

Impact on school places:

Extra houses will mean extra demand for local schools, how will the council counter balance this? Local schools are struggling to offer places now. What will be done for the extra demand?

Impact on local train services:

Extra houses will place higher demand on local rail services going to Birmingham or Stratford. What would be done to counter balance this?

John catches the train from Shirley to Birmingham every day, from 0730 onwards it is very difficult to get at seat from Shirley, and the same in reverse from 1700 onwards.

The services are crowded to the point of overcrowding on a regular basis, and this is without the extra burden of more commuters moving into the area.

Will Centro be putting on extra trains, and extra carriages to cope with this extra demand?

Also the parking at Shirley and Whitlocks End stations is always full and it is nigh on impossible to get a space at either of these unless you travel very early in the morning.

Floodplain:

We often get quite a large amount of water at the bottom of our garden during winter months. Water is absorbed by the trees on the Christmas Tree Farm. Once this is removed we are going to have a lot more water coming into the garden. What will be done to prevent or asssit with this?

Disruption whilst working is being carried out:

Obviously we will be very close to the development area. Extra traffic, noise and general disruption is inevitable and it looks like it could be for quite a lengthy period of time.

Has any consideration been given to when this work would take place, ie to ensure that as little nuisance is caused to the residents of the area during 'non work' hours such as evenings and weekends as possible.

Youth activities:

There are 9 proposed sports clubs all within the same area that will have to close down as a result of these developments. This compounded with the loss of public open fields will mean a distinct lack of outside spaces to occupy young people. This will mean all the existing people who used these facilities will have nowhere available to them, let alone for the influx of new people who would be moving into the area.

This surely brings about the conditions where young people can become alienated through lack of healthy outside activities and as a knock on result this would no doubt bring on an increase in crime rates and anti social behaviour.


We feel generally that Solihull as a whole and especially the town of Shirley will lose a lot of the charm that first brought people into the area. Such an extreme project of development such as this will cause movement of people out of the area and further degrade the area that all the residents currently love.

We hope that all objections to the plans are taken into account and considered carefully towards any decisions that are ultimately made on this matter