We write on behalf of our client, Golden End Farms. Our client's interest relates to land at Golden End, north of Kenilworth Road in Knowle, Solihull (SHELAA Site Ref. 59).

We submit that Amber Site ref A4, Golden End Farm, Kenilworth Road, Knowle, should not be omitted and should be included in the Submission Draft Local Plan.

This site immediately adjoins Knowle village to the east and offers a highly sustainable option to bring forward an exemplar housing development as outlined in the Proposal Site Supporting Statement submitted with this response.

As set out in the Site Supporting Statement, the site offers a highly sustainable growth opportunity. This is recognised in much of the evidence base documents which score it extremely well in terms of accessibility, suitability, availability and deliverability.

The site scores highly in the SHELAA in terms of its suitability, availability and achievability for housing development and has therefore correctly been identified as part of the 'deliverable' supply. There were a few errors in the original SHELAA which once corrected gives the site an overall score of 56. This re-assessment was detailed in our full response to the Draft Local Plan review. This is one of the highest scores in the Borough and is commensurate with many of the sites selected for allocation.

Furthermore, in the Accessibility Mapping Report the Golden End site is identified as one of the most accessible sites in the Borough. Again, once errors are corrected in the original report, the site scores the maximum score of 400. This reassessment is detailed in full in our response to the Draft Local Plan Review. This is the highest score in the Knowle/Dorridge area and one of the highest in the Borough. This high accessibility is noted in the Supplementary Consultation summary relating to the site. It is important to note that by far the biggest issue of concern to local residents expressed at meetings of the KDBH Neighbourhood Forum is about traffic congestion arising from the proposed housing allocations. The fact that the Golden End site scores higher than any other site in Knowle and Dorridge in terms of accessibility should therefore be given significant weight in the site selection process.

In terms of landscape assessment, it is noted that the same assessment and identified pressures apply equally to all sites around Knowle and Dorridge and therefore the Golden End site does not perform any differently than the selected sites.

In Green Belt terms, we have responded in detail to the Atkins Assessment in our full Submission to the Draft Local plan Review. Suffice it to say we totally disagree with the site assessment which is flawed and inconsistent with regard to other Green Belt parcels. It ignores the fact that both Kixley Lane and Kenilworth Road already have ribbon development along them. Further, it ignores the fact that the Grand Union Canal borders the site to the east and Kixley Lane (with its Local Wildlife Reserve to the north) borders the site to the north. Given the existing ribbon development and the strong defensible boundary formed by existing roads and the Grand Union Canal, we disagree that the development of this site would result in the village encroaching via a projection into the open countryside any more so than other sites and provides a similar 'rounding off' achieved by development elsewhere. The Green Belt harm of releasing the site is not therefore as high as is suggested by the Atkins report or the Summary in the Supplementary Consultation.

Overall, it is clear that too much weight has been placed on the flawed green belt assessment and insufficient weight has been given to the wider evidence base considerations in making a final judgement on site selection in Knowle. The site at Golden End scores higher than virtually any other site in the KDBH area across the evidence base, particularly once the factual errors are taken into account in the various studies. The land at Golden End Farm has clear locational advantages being the most accessible site to existing facilities and services in Knowle and therefore reducing the potential traffic implications of new housing. The site can be sensitively developed to minimise any impacts on nearby heritage assets and would establish a new and defensible long term boundary to the Green Belt limiting any risk to further expansion of the village in this location.

One of the points that seeks to justify the selection of Site 8 (Hampton Road) in the Supplementary Consultation (para 237) is that the site lies: "immediately adjacent to the built up area of the settlement and would represent a continuation of the existing development along Hampton Road. Whilst it is recognised that the site lies within a parcel of highly performing Green Belt, it is acknowledged that it comprises a small part of a wider parcel and that built development and/or urbanising influences are present either within the site or in the immediate vicinity adjacent to and opposite the site. The site is relatively well-contained and a defensible Green Belt boundary could be provided". It is submitted that the above justification applies even more so to the site at Golden End. In terms of accessibility, it is notable for example that the Golden End site scores higher than Hampton Road since the latter has no bus accessibility, whereas Kenilworth Road is situated on the Solihull-Coventry bus route with bus stops in close proximity to the site access. The Golden End site is also close to the Primary School and the High Street.

In terns of deliverability, unlike many of the draft site allocations in the local plan, including those in Knowle and Dorridge, the site is immediately deliverable. It is in single ownership and has no technical constraints. It has received overwhelming levels of developer interest and could therefore provide an immediate source of housing supply in the early years of the local plan period.

Finally, in terms of what the Golden End site can deliver, the Site Supporting Statement outlines the following:

- The opportunity for at least 250 dwellings to cater for the full range of housing needs, from starter homes and live-work units through to housing for the elderly.
- The inclusion of 6 hectares (15 acres) of new public open space and parkland, including playing fields, a new canal side walk and ecological habitats;
- Vehicular access off Kenilworth Road via a new junction;
- Additional parking facilities and coach access adjacent to Knowle Primary Academy, helping to relieve parking issues on Kixley Lane and provide additional village parking;
- Opportunity to provide a walkers car park close to the canal bridge to relieve parking pressures by Knowle Locks;
- Significant levels of pedestrian connectivity between the site, the village and the surrounding countryside;
- Protection of existing boundary trees and hedges;
- Protection of views from the countryside into the Conservation Area and to the Church; and
- Protection of the area of nature conservation north of Kixley Lane.

It is worthy of note that the site masterplan proposal was generally very well received at the KDBH Developer Showcase event in July 2016, and was listed in the event summary document produced by KDBH Forum as one of the 'most supported sites'. Unlike many of the sites listed in the 'most supported sites', it did also not appear on the 'most opposed sites' list.

Accordingly, it is requested that the Local Plan Review should include the Golden End site as an additional allocation.