Objection to Site 4 Land west of Dickens Heath

To Whom it May Concern

Please acknowledge NOT just receipt BUT that you have read and understood my concerns about this development.


I understand that The Solihull Metropolitan BoroughCouncil need to allocate sufficient land for at least 6,522 net additional homes to ensure sufficient housing land supply to deliver 15,029 additional homes in the period 2014-2033 but I would like someone with authority, some degree of responsibility and a feeling of duty to the residents of Tibbury Green & Dickens Heath to read and consider the objections such as those listed in my letter.

Site 4 Land west of Dickens Heath

See link below:-
http://www.solihull.gov.uk/Portals/0/Planning/LPR/Draft_Local_Plan_05.12.16.pdf

As a resident of Tidbury Green and a ratepayer of Dickens Heath, I object this proposal in the Green Belt for the following reasons:-

1. Green Belt - Residents wish to preserve the green belt as much as possible to prevent merging with neighbouring settlements including Tidbury Green, Wythall, Chiswick Green, Tamworth In Arden, Blythe Valley.
2. Loss of woodland and trees, how do you feel about the adverse effect on the Local Wildlife Sites and loss of playing fields for your family & their children?
3. Traffic and congestion -everyone, be they a pedestrian, cyclist or just pulling your car out of a driveway knows how dangerous things are getting, must have a concern with traffic and congestion, which will only get significantly worse as a result of any further development. Generally, the entire road network around Dickens Heath, Tidbury Green, Chiswick Green, Hockley Heath & Tamworth in Arden is in a very poor state, both in terms of road surface and road safety for pedestrians and cyclists. Tidbury Green residents use Dickens Heath shops and facilities and the parking there is already inadequate without further development. More importantly, there doesn't appear to be any way to improve the parking situation in the village, making the new development proposals unsustainable because they are too far away for walking to the facilities in the village centre and would therefore increase car usage, resulting in further pressure on parking and further gridlock. This is the thin edge of the wedge before these roads become an arterial road! Can you imagine the noise? Goodbye tranquility. I personally have had to give up a my lifetime passion of cycling because of several near misses / accidents through speeding commuting traffic and HGVs!
4. There are also concerns about school places and the ability of the current medical services to cope. Tidbury Green School would have to be extended further.
5. The impact of the development would mean certain businesses closing down - you may not have enjoyed the fun of eating or visiting Akamba, but they have played an important role as an important local employer and facility.
6. We need the Site selection to distribute new housing fairly across the Borough to include extending existing urban areas to defendable boundaries while avoiding coalescence between rural villages. A case in points the concern over a disproportionate number of homes being proposed in the Blythe area.
7. The density of housing conflicts with the nature and characteristics of Tidbury Green. The closing gap between Wythall, Tidbury Green and Dickens Heath is contributing to the loss of identity of these historic communities.



In summary there are no exceptional circumstances for changing the boundary to allow 700 new houses on the land proposed on Site 4 west of Dickens Heath.


Finally, why is it yet again this part of the Borough which is being blighted by so much building, we have had more than our fair share over the past 20 years, with Dickens Heath, the addition to Cheswick Green , plus the two new developments in Tidbury Green. This whole area is changing so fast, all the smaller villages are loosing their identities, and being enveloped into one huge concrete jungle, where does it stop!

Could you at least do me the honour of acknowledging that you have read and understood these issues from a residents point of view, and not as a Council who just needs to fulfil its building quota.

Yours faithfully,