Q16. Do you believe we have identified the infrastructure[35] required to support these developments? If not why not? Are there any additional facilities you believe are required, if so what are the

If these new homes are built you need to build a "2nd" town centre (a bit like Kenilworth did years ago), it has it's old high street and then the current main one.

see attached letter - sent by email

Please find enclosed a response to the recently consulted Solihull Local Plan review from Worcestershire County Council's Children Families and Communities Provision Planning Team.

SOLIHULL LOCAL PLAN REVIEW DECEMBER 2016

Worcestershire County Council's Children Families and Communities Department note the comments in the recently submitted Solihull Local Plan Review December 2016 with regard to the provision of school places, particularly paragraph 407 and 408.

Dickens Heath Primary School is a named feeder primary school to The Woodrush High School. Included in the Local Plan is particular reference to planned housing development of circa 700 dwellings for the Dickens Heath Area that may impact on the neighbouring high school. Worcestershire would wish to be included in consultations at the appropriate time with regard to this or any other particular development, which may come forward during the lifetime of the plan, that may impact on education provision in the neighbouring authority of Worcestershire.

I support the provision of green infrastructure and planning concepts in paragraph 224 of the draft plan. Concept master plans are critical particularly for sites in multiple ownership.

Missing from the listings of proposed infrastructure for Balsall Common includes
1. Additional parking at the Berkswell Station. Between 20 and 40 cars regularly park on Hallmeadow Road for the station every weekday.
2. Parking in central Balsall Common which is already at capacity. Perry Wardle of SMBC has the statistics.
3. Safe cycle connectivity with any employment centre
4. Parks to replace the loss of public footpaths and wildlife habitat

Public transport is poor in Balsall Common. There are only two trains an hour (in one direction) and no buses in the late evening. There are only a few of the surrounding towns and cities that are accessible by bus or train. Towns south of the village do not have this access.
Places where people work will mean, for the foreseeable future, that the car will be used for travel.

Site 16 development should not be permitted without additional infrastructure and social amenities, eg cycle, pedestrian and vehicle routes, schools, medical centre and a design that encourages and supports the provision and use of public transport.

No development should be approved in detail unless and until existing problems with traffic volumes on Hampton Lane, Lugtrout Lane and Damson Parkway are resolved.

Field Lane is not a suitable access road for the development, and widening would involve the permanent loss of a valuable rural byway including ancient hedgerow. If development is approved Field Lane should be closed to vehicular through traffic

There is not the necessary infrastructure required to support the proposed development in Balsall Common. If Balsall Common is to become a small town rather than village the community requires more than schools and doctors surgery. A play ground for children of all ages is desperately required e.g War Memorial Park/Abbey Fields. A leisure centre for all members of the community is needed. Cycle routes linking Kenilworth and Warwick University are needed. Transport links from Kenilworth, Warwick University, Solihull, to Balsall Common then on to the Birmingham Airport and the HS2 Hub/NEC/Resort Centre with its cinema, shopping facilities are needed.

There needs to be infrastructure for the young and youth of Balsall Common included in the plan. There is alrready a chronic shortage.

The existing infrastructure around the settlement of Balsall Common is struggling to cope with the present population, and is certainly inadequate to meet the needs of the proposed increased population.
Improvements are essential; including more primary school places, additional village centre and train station parking, improved bus and rail services, updating existing drainage system, and better more modern sports and leisure facilities for all ages.
These must be in place before the proposed 25% increase in population takes effect.

New primary and secondary schools needed. Parking a huge problem now - where are 1000 plus more cars going to park? Kenilworth road now gridlocked at rush hour plus new JLR distribution plant tanking huge automotive lorries up and down this road every day - nightmare. Sports facilities inadequate doctors surgery also inadequate and lack of parking and suitable shops. Station car park full every day and parking now on residential roads unacceptable.

No suitable transport infrastructure appears to have been identified to support the proposed the development of the Arden Triangle.

the draft plan outlines the need for housing for older people. Having listened to a discussion on radio 4 about general housing issues, I formed some concerns. What consideration is given to the wider needs of older people. They may not require as many rooms in a house but they do not wish to live in 'matchboxes'. Is social cohesion considered. If older people move to a new home it is often more difficult for them to meet people living around them. Not everyone that is old wants to play bingo. If all elderly people are bunched together is the plan to 'ghettoise' the old? These large building firms charge large sums for the upkeep of buildings. [I have a friend paying about £2000 per year in fees for a flat she owns].
The proposals do mention the need for schools, what about provision of doctor surgeries and other health care?
Little is said about road access. The roads in Dickens Heath are very narrow, enough provision was not made for traffic in the centre. It is already nightmarish driving there, signage is extremely poor. Now you are planning even more houses. Traffic along Dog Kennel Road is already difficult in the mornings and evenings. The roundabout by Porcelanosa has already been identified as above capacity. Access to Blyth Valley Business Park has suggested a road to Creynolds Lane, surely more than one way of access is required. Why should a road via Hockley Heath not be used?
The draft proposal mentions the challenge of Climate change and flooding. This area has suffered from flooding in the past. With in excess of 2000 houses insufficient care has been accounted for. The field below Light Hall farm going towards the fishing club ponds is wet all year round currently. When you walk along the field near the hedgerow at the bottom you are actually in water now, what about the effect of all the extra buildings and roads and drives?
Currently the land around Light Hall Farm is home to bats, badgers, buzzards, owls and a wide range of birdlife [ woodpeckers , tree creepers, nuthatches, long tail tits, etc.. How can this biodiversity be safeguarded?
My concerns have outlined plans to the current proposals, history of recently built housing demonstrates that builders submit planning which is approved and then at a later date the builders amend the plans and increase the density of housing. When we buy an expensive item such as a car we are provided with definite specifications, why is it deemed acceptable that house buyers buy with one specification which is then changed with no consideration to the initial plan?

With proposed housing growth in Balsall Common there is no infrastructure commitment.
In particular Balsall Common Primary School needs replacing by a new purpose built 4 form entry school, with no less facilities for the children than now. But developed with shared community facilities such as before & after school care/sports/swimming/social/multi purpose hall. The site needs realistic access for cars/parking [parents will drop off young children ] and safe walking/riding routes. 4 form size is needed for capacity, future proofing, financial viability, resilience & capacity to handle specialist needs. Positioned away from other schools to reduce congestion/pollution.Designed in from start.

Improvements are needed areas in solihull get congested due to pinch points as some areas have been over developed without the consideration to traffic. improvement is needed on the trains into Birmingham. At the moment most car parks fill up early, Widney Manor is full before the 8am train.

I do not believe that the infrastructure identified can be demonstrated to be sufficient given the changes to the specific area that I am concerned about, namely Balsall Common given the impact of HS2 firstly and the 1150 houses identified to a village which currently has circa 7100 residents with what could be a further 3000 plus residents in the new houses being proposed will change the landscape of the village completely and the village centre can not sustain such a growth without it having a detrimental impact to the village as a whole.

There is little detail as to how the 'highway capacity' is to be improved to accommodate the inevitable extra traffic, without losing the character of the neighbourhood - and how will widening be possible in residential roads eg Station Rd where traffic is already heavy at peak times. Also need detail re increase in healthcare facilities to match the extra needs - no discussion has taken place with existing providers.
How is pressure on parking to be addressed?

The current Arden site is described as constrained, however the new site will distance the activities further from the centre of Knowle and potentially damage trade on Knowle High Street which requires support - ie staff and pupils will have poor access to the shops and cafe facilities because they are further away and unable to walk there easily.
A better alternative would be to continue to use the very new buildings at either side of the site and rebuild the central block.

The majority of work for the 750 new homes in area 9 the Arden Triangle will be to the North / West aof Knowle and will require journeys through the village centre for some 1500 people and cars (on the basis of two cars per household). The implications of this volume of traffic do not seem to have been considered.

There is not adequate infrastructure in Knowle to support over 1000 new homes - a likely increase in village population of around 30% (assuming an average of 3 people per new house). There is not enough capacity within the local schools to accommodate children from this number of new houses. If a whole new school were to be required it would split the village in two as the school is the focal point for families. There is not enough parking provision for the current population - how will the increase be catered for?

As Hockley Heath is not included within the plan there are no details of proposed improvements to infrastructure. At a recent community event there was significant concern over the current lack of transport infrastructure and facilities and the likely impact upon them from;
Existing and proposed developments within Hockley Heath
Neighbouring developments, in particular Blythe Valley
Developments across the Warwickshire border
Promoting Quality of Place
Also of concern is the lack of policy references relating to the impact of the Local Plan on education provision across Solihull, and specifically in the Rural Area surrounding Hockley Heath (e.g. mitigating the impact of BVP).

In addition to what you have put in residents are already crying out for better car parking. Increased housing numbers will make this even more important. As I understand it the Council owns the Arden Academy site, so it should make provision for a new 3 storey 200 car park (basement/ground/first floor) in the corner nearest to the village centre, with access from Milverton Road and Station Road. Also it should consider a free-flowing one-way system to alleviate congestion, plus lights control of the 3 pedestrian crossings in the High Street, which cause much of the problem.

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.

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.

Balsall Common centre needs masterplanning to indicate how the additional residential growth can be serviced. There needs to be updating, car parking, traffic management, crossings, environmental enhancement.
The Riddings Hill site or Barretts Farm site should provide railstation carparking, this is already overspilling. If train frequency and carriage capacity are increased in response to development this will be essential. The bus service is too poor and too lengthy a journey to travel to Solihull for work.
The environment of Balsall Common's residential streets should be enhanced or at least protected. They are characterised by mature trees, many oaks, often in open frontages. Meeting House Lane is unique and should be closed to vehicular traffic at the Catholic Church point. This could create a pedestrian area between the Lant (occupied by the Berkswell and Balsall Sports and Community Association and new developments on Barratts Farm. The BBSCA site sees extensive community use involving large numbers of pedestrians (summer Fete, Lions bonfire) as well as frequent sports training for children and the venue for an after school club.
This pedestrian link connects the existing footpath network on Barretts Farm with the footpath from Meeting House Lane to Kenilworth Road and the secondary school.

I have seen nothing about the need to invest in community facilities as additional households are created. Locally, for example, there are waiting lists for Scouts that mean that some young people are denied the opportunity to join - the constraint is often buildings and other facilities. The whole plan appears to be focused on profit and meeting targets - not on meeting the needs of existing and new communities.

local schools in Balsall Common would not be able to cope with additional need and would have to expand> More land taken up.

Improving the infrastructure around the areas being developed, i.e. shops, schools, drainage, transport - must be done BEFORE the implementation of building projects, not after. For Balsall Common this includes the Station Road shops, bus services re-instated and traffic calming measures

There is currently no access to the Barratt's Farm land. One of the access points suggested is from Meeting House Lane. This is a small lane which is not suitable for an increase in traffic. Balsall Common centre is small and facilities are limited. The Draft Local Plan does not mention developing the centre further and in its current state it would not be able to cope with what will be a significant increase in population. The Local Plan would have to include development of the centre.
Bus links from Balsall Common are poor and very infrequent. This should be taken into consideration. More frequent bus links would be required.
The local school has already become a 4 form school and there is no capacity to expand further. A new school would be required. The Draft Local Plan talks about a bypass around Balsall Common. This will not lead to a thriving village centre as most of the shops rely on passing trade.

As Hockley Heath is not included within the plan there are no details of proposed improvements to infrastructure. At a recent community event there was significant concern over the current lack of transport infrastructure and facilities and the likely impact upon them from;
* Existing and proposed developments within Hockley Heath
* Neighbouring developments, in particular Blythe Valley
* Developments across the Warwickshire border
* Promoting Quality of Place
Also of concern is the lack of policy references relating to the impact of the Local Plan on education provision across Solihull, and specifically in the Rural Area surrounding Hockley Heath (e.g. mitigating the impact of BVP).

Schools local to proposed allocations 11, 12 and 13 already have two or three form entries at primary school level where they used to be single form entry. It is difficult to envisage how much additional capacity these schools can really withstand before it has a detrimental impact on their ability to provide the outstanding education that they are renowned for.
This would exacerbate congestion of the significant numbers of cars dropping or collecting pupils from Lighthall School, and Woodlands School (and all of the other schools in the borough) and the knock on impact on local residents who live around these schools.
At school start and finish times there are already severe issues with driving round the estate surrounding Stretton Road, parking, school delivery lorries. I have personally nearly been killed on my bicycle trying to get to the station by parents turning their cars in our road without looking, and also run off the road by a school food delivery lorry on the roundabout on Shakespeare Drive.
Roads around proposed allocations 11, 12 and 13 are already overcrowded, and they are not convenient for train travel without using a car to get to the station, or an extended walk. Parking already became a problem at Shirley station with the growth of Dickens Heath. Several years ago it became impossible to find a parking space at Shirley station unless you arrived before 7.30am. This led to the expansion of Whitlocks End station parking and the extension of the line to Whitlocks End instead of Shirley, but with the scale of housing being proposed, again I can't see how the train infrastructure on this line could stand the scale of the proposed housing. Perhaps extra buses may be proposed but they won't be able to get through the gridlocked traffic, and it will then take up to an additional hour from Shirley to get into Birmingham by bus.
Tanworth Lane, Stretton Road, Stratford Road, Dog Kennel Lane are all already severely congested due to Dickens Heath traffic, leading to extra pollution in the area. To extend further would cause even more congestion and pollution. It is unfair to existing residents to prevent them from being able to get to places due to additional congestion. It is already the case that it can take longer to drive from Withybrook Road to the TRW site than it does to walk on the occasions my husband needs to take his car to work. It can take 20 minutes to drive that mile, purely due to the Dickens Heath traffic. By adding further housing developments in this area, this will become impossible. The residents of Shirley won't be able to get onto the M42 in the morning, or return home in the evening as the Stratford Road and adjoining roads will be gridlocked.
Regarding pollution, in the 25 years we've lived here and run a local Scout troop, we've seen the number of children with asthma increase dramatically, which appears to be due to pollution from the Stratford Road, and the Council should feel responsible for the impact of their decisions on local residents.
We have seen nothing in the plan about nursery provision. This needs to be addressed as it is difficult to find nursery places in the area. On a personal level, we have enrolled our daughter at Active Angels nursery for when I return to work, and a very significant factor in choosing this nursery was that it backed on to open fields, so she wouldn't be inhaling the fumes of the Stratford Road every day. However, if proposed allocation 13 is built, not only in due course will there be lots of houses and cars, but in the meantime, she'll be attending nursery on a building site with heavy lorries and heavy plant in operation rather than the fields and open spaces that was a major factor in choosing this site. We're now uncertain whether the nursery will even exist in the future. We've also missed our opportunity to book into our other nursery choices now, because it is necessary to obtain places so far in advance.
For the number of houses you're proposing, it will be required to have additional secondary schools. It is not feasible to extend existing ones as you will not be able to get any more cars there or back in the mornings and afternoons. The new schools will need space and access roads. Several primary schools as a minimum must be considered in these plans.
Good quality, well lit cycle paths separate from traffic (but not slower to use than the road) should be drawn into any of these planned developments and linking to major sites. With the increase in traffic on the roads, Solihull's roads will become even more dangerous for cyclists (and pedestrians). The poor design of Dickens Heath leading to significant levels of on-street parking has made it dangerous to cycle through here as drivers are impatient to wait to pass. Similar problems could easily happen with any of these new sites if not well designed.
I think it is likely that there is a significant flooding risk by building allocations 12 and 13. Certainly the fields around allocation 13 are always boggy and muddy in winter. The drains at the top of Hathaway Road at the junction with Shakespeare Drive overflow in any heavy rain. I would envisage this getting significantly worse if allocation 13 is built on, and this large area of grass/marshland is removed. The drainage system of the whole area would need to be significantly improved.

Already extremely difficult to get appointments at Doctor's surgery on Tanworth Lane.

Youth recreational provision not addressed (which is already being provided by volunteers due to removal of Youth Services funding and removal of this department from council). Already struggle to find venues to provide youth services. Should provide large halls to provide for youth and community services. Existing schools either already booked up or unaffordable pricing.