Do you agree with the Borough Vision?
The centre of Balsall Common will certainly not continue to thrive in the way that is sought if the developments along the Kenilworth Road (A452) and Frog Lane take place. These developments will mean hundreds more cars on the road along Windmill Lane, (a quiet rural lane with an historic Windmill), Kelsey Lane, Kenilworth Road and Balsall Street, leading up to the one and only school in the village. If you look on google maps you will see the existing severe congestion along the A452 already. My children go to Berkswell school and as it is I go right round the edge of the village to avoid the main road as it is frequently at a stand still or moving very slowly along at 9am in the morning. The people who would be living on the Kenilworth Road estate, in particular, would largely be using there cars to get anywhere, hence a massive increased congestion and parking problem for the village. Access to the village centre is much more difficult from this side of the village and most people in there daily lives would not walk that distance along a busy main road. The only option is walking along Meeting House Lane, down which for a large part, there is no pavement. I have been based in the village for over 30 years and can honestly say from my experience of living in the village that this is certainly the wrong side of the village to be developing. Firstly, it is green belt land (Government policy dictates that non-green belt land should be used first for development). There will be plenty of land to be developed nearer the sites allocated for HS2. Secondly, there isn't the infrastructure or services available on this side of the village to accommodate more housing and at the same time maintain the pleasant nature of the village. If 1200 are to be added to the village (I note the same number as in Knowle and Dorridge), the Council needs to make sure that services are provided at the same time. Knowle has a long High Street and small Mall with numerous shops and Dorridge has its own high street with large Sainsburys. How will Balsall Common's small village centre cope with this porportionally massive increase in numbers of cars and people? Housing shouldn't be developed in these locations as it will destroy the village. Rather, development should take place at a reasonable distance away from existing development with significant conditions being placed on developers to provide services, green areas separating new development from existing development and a new school. In addition, good walking access to the village and train station should be essential. As it is, the car park at Berkswell station isn't big enough to accommodate existing numbers of cars and people travelling by train park all along Riddings Hill. I understand that there have been proposals by Bryant Homes, which would satisfy a lot of the above and that these have not been taken up. In the site proposed (although it is also near the Kenilworth Road), new residents would be able to walk to a new school on the new development, walk to new amenities, and also walk through the existing Lavendar Hall Park to the existing shops and the train station. There would be much more connectivity with the village, without relying on the existing services in full and encourage more people to walk, as the means of doing so would be much easier. Just because the Kenilworth Road site is considered of slightly less greenbelt worth, does not automatically mean that it should be developed first. There are so many other social considerations (many of which you may be unaware of as you probably have not lived here) that must be taken into account in ensuring that Balsall Common maintains its vibrant and more rural nature and a place where people continue to choose to live. These are surely your objectives.

Developing the Kenilworth Road and Frog Lane sites is the wrong side of the village to be developing. There aren't the services nor the infrastructure to accommodate such a development. It would lead to massive increased congestion and parking issues. There would be no connectivity with the existing village nor services, (such as the shops and the train station), which would mean that car usage would be essential by these residents. The proposed Bryant homes site, for example, would be much better as new residents would be able to walk to existing services and new services would be provided.