STOP PRESS: Solihull Local Plan to be withdrawn!!
Our June newsletter was unable to report any progress on the Solihull Local Plan as the Council was awaiting a response from the two Planning Inspectors who have been ‘examining’ the Local Plan. The Council had been hoping that they would adopt a ‘pragmatic solution’ to enable the Plan to continue through to adoption without the need to release any further Green Belt sites.
The Council received a letter from the Inspectors on 4th September. The Inspectors have concluded the Council has not made sufficient land available to meet its housing need, including a contribution of 2000 homes to meet the shortfall in Birmingham.
They have concluded that the Local Plan should be withdrawn from Examination. (A copy of their letter is available on the Solihull Council examination web page.
What does this mean and what happens next?
It looks inevitable that the Council will have to start the whole process again. It’s likely they will have to adopt the new approach proposed in the Governments’ emerging national planning policy guidance on housing need and Green Belt/Grey Belt releases. That would mean higher housing targets and the need for further Green Belt sites for housing.
What about the proposed housing on sites at Hampton Road and land South of Knowle (the ‘Arden Triangle’)?
We think it highly likely that planning applications will be submitted shortly for the two sites at Hampton Road.
The planning applications on the Arden Triangle site have been held in abeyance pending progress on the Local Plan and the adoption of an agreed masterplan for the whole site.
The consortium of landowners and developers for the KN2 Arden Triangle site have been working on a new draft Masterplan and have advised the Forum today that a consultation website has been launched (https://ardentriangle.co.uk) which they indicate now includes additional land being made available to enable a significant expansion of the Arden Academy site. They are seeking feedback by 30th September 2024 prior to finalising their Masterplan approach to the Council. The Forum considers the timeframe for comment to be very short, given the lack of detail provided or comparison with the initial Masterplan.
We anticipate that when a Masterplan has been finalised it will be adopted by the Council. They will then consider the current planning applications in the context of the masterplan and move towards determining the applications later this year or early next year.
The good news is that our Neighbourhood Plan remains part of the Development Plan for our area and its policies must be taken into account when considering these planning applications.
We will be in touch with further updates shortly.