Warwick Grange
Kenilworth Road
Knowle
B93 0JH
Thursday 14th March 2019


To whom it may concern,

We write to strongly object to Golden End Farm, Knowle (Ref: A4/Site 59) being allocated as a Amber site in Solihull Council's draft local plan. We believe Golden End Farm should remain as green belt area and our reasons are below.

Demolition of Top Grade Green Belt Land
On the green belt assessment report 2016, Golden End Farm, site 59 (RP37 in the assessment report) scored an extremely high 11 out of a possible 12 points when assessed against meeting Green belt criteria. There is no other refined parcel piece of land that scores as highly. In fact it has scored higher that 2 of the 5 broad areas that have been assessed. Yet other sites that scored significantly lower have retained their green belt status over site 59, why? An example being site 13 (RP69 in the green belt assessment) which scored 6. This site is in a sustainable location yet has been removed from the plan. Instead you are considering allocating site 59 to become amber that is less sustainable and scores higher? This is unjustifiable. This is just one example that came to light after my first examination of the plan. Over the coming weeks I will continue to work on an evidence base for this argument and reserve the right to submit further evidence and representation as it becomes available.

Impact to traffic on the Junction with Warwick Road/Kenilworth Road
Traffic is already a problem along Kenilworth Road as it meets Warwick Road. Cars park on the side of the road which means that two cars can't pass. If you then want to turn right on to Warwick Road this is already extremely challenging with the density of traffic. Add an additional 250 homes on to site 59 and this could quite easily equate to an additional 250-500 car movements at peak times. The area couldn't cope with the volume of traffic that would be created.

Knowle Infrastructure unable to Cope with Increased population
The only two development sites currently in the Knowle Dorridge and Bentley Heath plan, Arden Triangle site 9 and Hampton Road site 8, are in Knowle. These sites will create an additional 950 homes for Knowle infrastructure to accommodate. That is a massive 25% increase in the current number of properties in Knowle. Knowle infrastructure will already be bursting at the seams so to add an additional 250 homes to site 59 in Knowle is incomprehensible. Particularly when its neighbouring village Dorridge is far more equipped to cope with an increase in population and yet there are no sites put forward for development? Knowle has a small metro supermarket whilst Dorridge has a Sainsbury's superstore. Dorridge also has a train station for many of its population to vacate and return to village for work purposes, Knowle does not.

Considering the facts above we cannot comprehend why the council would propose adding site 59 to the development plan. As already stated we will continue to work on evidence to support our argument and will submit further evidence and representation as it become available


Sincerely

Emma and David Watson