Dear Mr Palmer,

Please find attached my letter of objection to proposed housing developments in Balsall Common.

Regards

RE: SMBC's proposed developments in Balsall Common.

Dear Mr Palmer,

I am writing to you in response to SMBC's Draft Local Plan, as I am very concerned about how it will affect both the village and my property specifically. I have lived in Balsall Common for most of my life and have seen it grow enormously in that time. However, the infrastructure and facilities within the village have hardly changed and are already overstretched before there is any further development. Looking at a map of proposed development within the borough, it would seem that Balsall Common is being unfairly targeted, especially as the development allocated to Berkswell parish, actually impacts on Balsall Common village.

I am primarily concerned about the proposed development in Frog Lane. How can this site be considered, when there are 14 identified sites of previous development, which must surely be developed first, before there is any inappropriate development in the GREEN BELT (the government has always said that this was sacrosanct).

Balsall Street East, which borders the proposed Frog Lane development, is already a congestion hotspot, with a mixture of commuter traffic between Solihull and Coventry and local traffic to the schools. This will surely worsen with the extra traffic due to the 3,000 proposed jobs at the new JLR site in Honiley. The A452 and Balsall Street East will become even busier and Holly Lane/Frog Lane will become 'Rat runs'. The crossroads between Balsall Street East and Holly Lane has already been the site of several serious accidents in recent years and there have also been a number of accidents around the primary school. Any increase in traffic levels will increase the probability of a serious or fatal accident occurring.

There are limited employment opportunities in Balsall Common and therefore most people commute to work by car, as the public transport links are very poor. An extra 30% of houses within the village will only add to the congestion. Add to this the construction of HS2 in this area, with the huge number of lorry movements involved. Our present infrastructure is not suitable for this increase!

The Frog Lane development will be on the outskirts of the village, the majority of journeys to the shops, medical centre and railway station will be by car, only adding to the congestion and causing more parking problems in the village.

SMBC now proposes to put the entrance/exit into the Frog lane development, straight onto Balsall Street East, directly opposite my property. Surely it would make more sense for access to be gained from Frog Lane, which would mean that any travel towards Warwick/Stratford/M40/new JLR site at Honiley would avoid Balsall Common all together? This would also mean that the site, if it goes ahead, would use existing road junctions.

With the properties on the North side of Balsall Street East at this point, sitting below road level, we already suffer from localised flooding, along with our neighbours, after and during periods of heavy or prolonged rainfall. This development will essentially act as an elevated rainwater catchment area, which is then being pointed at our property via the proposed entrance road, what are the council's plans to protect the properties on the northern side of the road from increased flooding risk?

Our living room is on the front of our property - what protection will we be offered from the headlights of the 100+ vehicles that will be coming in & out of this new development?

There are currently a number of mature trees at the back of the property that is to be demolished which provide a nesting site to a breeding pair of buzzards. The buzzard is fully protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which makes it an offence to kill, injure or take a buzzard, or to take, damage or destroy an active nest or its contents. Please can you confirm that these trees are not impacted by the proposed development.

Living in Balsall Street East, we know how close the planes are, as they approach Birmingham Airport, sometimes as late as 3am and how noisy they are as they take off at 6am. Now SMBC are proposing to build houses under the flight path, which will lead to many complaints once people realise the unhealthy atmosphere they are having to live in.

As I stated earlier, the existing facilities in Balsall Common are already inadequate for the present village size. If there is to be any future development, it is essential that the infrastructure be in place first. Schools, shops, medical facilities, leisure facilities and parking are all overstretched. Balsall Common cannot sustain the proposed developments. Surely there are other villages in the borough with better facilities already, which can share the burden, if greenfield sites have to be used. However, I stress again that Previously Developed Land should be used first.

Yours sincerely,