Nod for skyscraper amid affordable homes criticism
ANOTHER enormous skyscraper has been given the green light for Birmingham’s Broad Street.
The 47-storey skyscraper, which will have 525 flats, was approved last week by Birmingham City Council’s (BCC) planning committee.
The development would include a mix of one and two-bedroom apartments.
There is also set to be a nursery, games lounge, cinema room and arcade room, while the site would also feature a ‘pocket park’, providing a pedestrian link between Broad Street and Essington Street.
Some councillors praised the design but said there were too few affordable homes in it – just four per cent of the total apartments.
“It is a striking building and exceptionally tall but it’s a particularly nice one,” Cllr Colin Green told the planning committee meeting.
“It’s unusual to see such a good looking building. I’m disappointed it’s very low affordable.”
“I think it’s a good design,” Cllr Lee Marsham added. “But disappointed with the only four per cent affordable.”
A council report said the scheme has been through a “thorough and independent assessment”, with independent assessors considering that the development could “sustain an affordable housing contribution of six per cent without becoming unviable”.
However, it continued: “With a 20 per cent discount it will be difficult to secure tenants that meet the eligibility requirements in relation to household income. It is therefore recommended that a deeper discount of 30 per cent is secured, which will reduce the provision to 4 per cent (21 dwellings).”
Planning committee chair Martin Brooks said: “As a committee, we’ve constantly flagged up the desire to meet our targets in terms of affordability and this does fall well short of that.
“But the problem is we’ve had a financial viability assessment which backs up the facts and then that makes it very difficult to argue something differently. I understand people’s concerns but I think in terms of the design, I would personally support this.”
“Again, it is a massively tall building in a lot of respects,” Cllr Rick Payne added. “But I take on board the fact that in the city centre, space laterally is limited, whereas space going upwards isn’t.”
Birmingham Civic Society raised concerns, with the council’s officer report saying: “They note that the identified harm must be weighed in consideration of the building’s height and proportions, which will be dominating in the local areas and visible from many locations across the city, for example Edgbaston Conservation Area.”
Another proposal, revealed two weeks ago, for a skyscraper incorporating the old Royal Orthopaedic Hospital building, would sit right besides this plan.
Mayor Andy Street was critical, writing on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday: “Just 4 per cent affordable is utterly shameful. At the West Midlands Combined Authority we are uncompromising on our 20 per cent affordable target.
“We’ve proved it can be done, but Birmingham City Council have got to get tough.”