Solihull Local Plan Objection

I would like to register my objection to the proposed expansion of Knowle village as laid out in the Councils local plan.

I support the KDBH neighborhood forum report that identifies that the Council has used unproportionate building in Knowle village. The whole reason people want to live in a village is that it is a community. By building over 1000 houses in Knowle it would not be a village. It would increase traffic, pollution, increase demand on GP surgeries, schools etc.

There is already sufficient family homes in Knowle and Dorridge. What there is a shortage of bungalows for older people to downsize to, thereby releasing larger homes for families. Not all older people want to live in retirement apartments, they want bungalows with gardens to enjoy their retirement years, not be forced out of the area, or into apartments with no gardens to potter in! It is almost as though the council want to alter the demographics of Knowle by failing to provide suitable housing for its agent population. There should be more sheltered accommodation.

With respect to Arden Academy, I would love the village of Knowle to have a new Senior School building, but not at the expense of loosing our valuable green belt and open fields. I therefore, not convinced that using the green fields to build a new school and then build more houses on the existing school site is the right option for Knowle. Again this increases all kind of pressures on a small village and it's amenities. I therefore, object to Arden Academy existing proposal.

As identified in the KDBH Neighborhood forum report the Council needs to look at other areas for house building. The council needs to identify all these empty properties that could be used to house people, or even convert some of the empty business into habitual properties. This would take up some of the demand.

Again my view is that there is a shortage of starter homes and smaller homes (bungalows) for the aging population to downsize into. Sort out the aging population and you will free up a huge number of family homes. However, the price needs to be right for the aging population to release equity for their old age.

Where I live we are surrounded by couples in their late 60's who want to downsize from their 4 bedroom detached homes. However, they cannot find suitable bungalows with gardens to downsize to, to release sufficient cash.