Proposed Housing Allocation 13 South of Shirley (Representation ID: 800)
I am writing to register my objection to this land being taken to more housing development. This is the only green belt land we have left in Shirley after the Council has used every other piece of greenery we have, even the football field will go. We have been the dumping ground for Solihull for too long now and it is about time that other areas in Solihull are now seriously considered. We have had more than our fair share of overdevelopment in the last 35 years and enough is enough. We have at least one of every named supermarket, we have all the car dealerships, three retail parks and of course let us not forget Park Gate which is a total 'white elephant' and a downgrade for our area despite the promise of upmarket shops which were supposed to opened in this area and what do we get Peacocks, B&M and other cheap stores which is an insult to the people who live in this area by thinking this is the standard of shopping we wanted and let's not forget the famous ASDA which we did not need alongside the other 8 supermarkets we already have in the area. Now another bottleneck is about to be created by the development of the PC world site into shop outlets, which will cause chaos as they have to come out on the Sainsbury island to get onto the Stratford Road to go back down towards the M42. It already takes between 10 and 15 mins to get off Sainsbury's car park and across the island on a Saturday and Sunday on to Stratford Road. Add to that the extra traffic from the proposed development which is based on one car per family, which we know will not be the norm so we could talking about another 1,000 cars plus. We already have new housing development planned on the old Powergen site and Woolmans garden centre and everywhere else when an unused building comes up for sale. The Stratford Road is a total nightmare 7 days a week and one needs to allow 45 mins to an hour to get from Shirley down to the M42 between 07:30 and 09:00 Monday to Friday and Dog Kennel Lane is the same. Bills Lane is also a nightmare first thing in the morning and from 5pm in the evening with traffic coming off the Stratford Road up Shakespeare Drive and Haslucks Green. Our Doctors Surgery is about a 6 min journey from our house but if you happen to have an appointment between 08:15 and 09:15 we need to allow ourselves at least 30 mins to get there due to volume of traffic on Bills Lane and trying to get across the Stratford Road from School Road, especially since the traffic lights were removed and the stupid roundabout which was put in place. When my wife and I moved into Shirley 35 years ago we were attracted by the green fields and open spaces as at that time from the M42 there was only Notcutts, Shirley Golf Club, Shirley Aquatics and the Plough when you came up the Stratford Road towards Shirley, now we have the Business park on the M42, Tesco, several car dealer showrooms, Monkspath estate, Dickens Heath, two large retail parks and all the shops on the Stratford Road plus several supermarkets, completely taking away the character of Shirley itself with the small individual shops. Leave Shirley alone now and develop elsewhere. We presently struggle to obtain a Doctors appointment, and with only one hospital to service the community we fear for the future of Solihull Hospital. Also it does not bear thinking about the road infrastructure with the imposition of another 600 plus houses.