Q 11 - Infrastructure Requirements at Blythe

The parishes of Cheswick Green, Dickens Heath and Tidbury Green, the "Blythe Villages," have taken substantial development under past Plans, notably the Dickens Heath new village, constructed in the last 15 years and 1,000 dwellings at Blythe Valley. It is estimated that this area has taken a further 2,000 dwellings over the past 5 years but the roads, services and infrastructure have not been upgraded to accommodate this growth. We need more houses but they should be the right type and in the right place. With no new employment areas proposed in the Local Plan and little existing local employment, residents have to drive to their work, which is predominantly located to the east of the Borough, causing commuter chaos in this area along rural roads that were not designed for such volumes of traffic. This is an unsustainable situation now without the additional proposed developments exacerbating this situation.
The infrastructure required has not been adequately addressed in relation to the sites in Shirley South. The current infrastructure cannot support this amount of development. The road infrastructure is inadequate and there are no alternative routes that could be built to relieve the situation. Additional development roads would only funnel more traffic into an already overburdened system. The existing arterial roads of Haslucks Green Road, Tamworth Lane, Dog Kennel Lane and Stratford Road cannot be effectively improved.

The NHS is also under severe strain and there are limits to how much GPs can expand, especially in the area around Shirley. Also Solihull hospital has been downgraded over the years, no longer has a paediatric department, resulting in Shirley residents having to utilise Heartlands hospital. Travelling to Heartlands is already becoming untenable. The increase in residents to this degree in Shirley South will only exacerbate the problem.
Replacement of any lost recreation / sports provision as a result of development will be required to an equivalent or better standard, including access and use by the wider community where appropriate. Development of site 4 will result in the loss of in the region of 20 recreation areas and sports pitches. It is not clear where the playing fields are to go.

Sport England has a policy to protect playing fields and did oppose the Solihull Plan Site 4 proposals in 2017. Loss of sports grounds/recreation areas for 9 clubs is contrary to Government Policy.