The Neighbourhood Plan Steering Committee believe the identified infrastructure requirements fall far short of the requirements for Hockley Heath.
1. Paragraph 189 states "Hockley Heath has regular bus services running through the village connecting Birmingham and Stratford and a more frequent service linking Solihull & Dickens Heath". This statement does not reflect reality following the recent changes made by Travel West Midlands. As of February 2019, Hockley Heath has the 20 service which terminates at Shirley and does not serve Birmingham. Additionally, TfWM (following their consultation - which incidentally did not consult on the changes made to HH bus services) has changed the bus service route and as such the service from Hockley Heath to Solihull and Dorridge station is effectively reduced to an hourly service due to timetabling, irrespective of this being a circular route. Access to rail services is limited; over 2 miles away.
2. School Road traffic has been a concern for some time and will be exacerbated by the Blythe Valley Park development, the effects of which are yet to be felt with the development in its early stages. Our survey, published in June 2018 as a part of the Neighbourhood Plan development process, had 87% of respondents indicating it was very important for highway changes to School Road to prevent excessive vehicle use arising from additional Blythe Valley Park development. This finding was in advance of any consultation associated with the release of green belt land on School Road
3. The village, and specifically the A3400, suffers from regular flooding/ponding following even moderate sustained rainfall. Hockley Heath Parish Council is engaging with Severn Trent Water and SMBC Highways to identify improvement works across the entire system (from storm drains to river outlet) but there is clear evidence that the drainage infrastructure in the village is struggling
4. There are pockets of Hockley Heath which still do not have access to "super fast" broadband and anecdotal reports of poor water pressure in areas of the village