Solihull Local Plan (Draft Submission) 2020

The concept masterplan for Site BC4 should be amended to remove reference to semi-improved grassland – significant habitat value, and replaced with a medium
density housing designation. The number of dwellings allocated in Policy BC4 should be increased.

Policy BC4 (Pheasant Oak Farm, Balsall Common)/Concept Masterplan
The proposed allocation comprises land in two ownerships, and promoted separately by Rainier Developments Limited (Rainier) and Barwood Land
(Barwood) respectively. The two parties are however collaborating in the interests of good planning to bring forward a comprehensive development.
In the first instance, the allocated site is an appropriate location for residential development. The proposed allocation at ‘Pheasant Oak Farm’ is developable,
available now, and achievable. The evidence base is supportive, and negative effects identified in the SA are capable of being mitigated and are not material.
Whilst Policy BC4 is therefore supported to the extent that it proposes to allocate land at Pheasant Oak Farm for residential development and remove this site from the Green Belt, an objection is made to the detail of the policy.
Firstly, objection is raised to the designation on the Concept Masterplan of part of the site adjacent to Waste Lane (Site 408) as semi-improved grassland-significant habitat value. This designation is not justified, as the Plan’s evidence base taken from the Habitat Biodiversity Audit Ecological Assessment (January 2020) identifies the site as ‘improved grassland’ which is a habitat of low to negligible nature conservation importance.
It is also noted that the Concept Masterplan’s designation conflicts with the Plan’s Sustainability Appraisal which found the site not to contain any records of priority habitats or species.
An ecological assessment review prepared by FPCR has been appended to these representations (Appendix 1). This was informed by a site visit in September 2020. Its overall conclusion is that identifying the land as semi-improved grassland appears to be an error. The land supports species-poor improved grassland of low to negligible ecological value, a habitat type that
should not represent a constraint to development. It continues to be managed as such, and is currently a silage ley that has been re-sown this autumn.
The land fronting Waste Lane is not therefore a habitat of significant value that should be protected by the Plan. It should be part of the built development and can contribute towards increasing the allocation by some 16 dwellings and making a more efficient use of the land allocated. Furthermore, in design and accessibility terms, the site is a logical infill and key gateway that connects the existing settlement with the proposed development beyond. Not to develop this area would represent a missed opportunity to enhance the accessibility
of the allocation.
As an additional point, the concept masterplans are referenced in the Plan and are to be used to determine applications and assess whether they accord with the Plan. However, they do not appear in the Plan and therefore their status is somewhat ambiguous. If a policy is based on a concept masterplan, then the concept masterplan should be within the Plan and tested for its
soundness as part of this process.

The concept masterplan should be amended to remove reference to semi-improved grassland – significant habitat value, and replaced with a medium
density housing designation. The number of dwellings allocated in Policy BC4 should be increased.
The concept masterplans should form part of the Plan.