Solihull is urged to take larger burden of housing needs

SOLIHULL is facing renewed pressure to find space for thousands more homes to help meet wider regional housing needs.

The council has suggested it could accommodate 2,000 units to help ease demand in other parts of the Midlands, on top of the 13,000 earmarked for Solihull’s needs.

However, developers and other local authorities have suggested this figure is “too low” and want to see the borough – two thirds of which is green belt – make a greater contribution.

Responses from developers, submitted as part of a recent consultation, suggest Solihull should provide between 4,000 and 6,500 properties towards the region-wide shortfall. By contrast, many resi

dents argue that opportunities to expand are “limited” and believe neighbouring councils, such as Birmingham, should “do more” to clear brownfield sites in their own area.

The flood of responses was submitted to Solihull Council after it published its Draft Local Plan – a blueprint for development over the next 15 years.

A huge gulf between the views of residents and others who have had their say demonstrates the difficulties facing the council as it looks to take the document forward.

Hinting that there could be conflict with other councils over how many houses Solihull should provide to ease the burden elsewhere, senior councillors had suggested earlier this year that other issues should be taken into account.

In particular, Solihull’s ruling Conservative group believes that the amount of green belt which will be lost as part of the HS2 development should not be glossed over when doing the relevant sums.

A summary of comments received about the Draft Local Plan also highlights the extent of opposition to allowing development on certain pieces of land.

Windmill Lane, in Balsall Common, and land west of Dickens Heath are among the proposed housing sites to have received more than 100 objections.

Officers have said that they cannot respond in details to the comments received at this stage, but the views expressed will feed into the next draft of the document.

The overview of the responses will be presented to Cllr Andy Mackiewicz, cabinet member for climate change, planning and housing, today.