A CONSERVATION group has formally objected to a Sainsbury’s supermarket plan for Dorridge.The Knowle Society said the scheme was too big for Forest Court, Dorridge and would cause traffic problems in the village and Knowle, where lorries would travel through.
It is the second high profile objection to the supermarket’s planning application after Dorridge and District Residents Association.
In a letter to Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council the society says: “The society recognises the need to redevelop Forest Court in Dorridge, in the process improving facilities for shopping in that village.
“While we see the potential benefits to Dorridge of a modest food store we have great concerns over the size of the proposed development and especially over its impact on Knowle and the amenity of its inhabitants.”
It takes issue with the developer’s view that Dorridge is a ‘town centre’, meaning the plan fits with planning laws. A ‘town centre’ “can in no way be held to describe Dorridge” it says.
The plan does not “reflect the scale and catchment of the development proposed” the society adds in a letter from Leighton Jones, chairman of its planning committee.
The scheme would “reduce the shopping opportunities in Dorridge” as it plans four shops instead of 20. The society admits just 14 were filled when the plan was first mooted.
And it would “adversely affect the nature of the centre of Dorridge, converting it into a place where one retailer will monopolise, while the variety and local nature of the existing offerings will be lost, to the detriment of local shoppers”.
The society said a claim the store would benefit shops in Dorridge and Knowle was not backed up by numbers
It says: “The traffic flows of shoppers going to the proposed store from within and without the immediate area will be focussed onto a very small number of roads.”
Station Road will see a “major increase” and there would be a “significant effect” on its junction with Widney Road, at the roundabout.
An assessment of the impact of delivery vehicles is “completely absent” from the application it says.
Members are “particularly concerned” that they would drive through Knowle High Street more than 24 times a day and turn right into Station Road and on to Dorridge.
The letter says: “The impact of these on the conservation area and on the amenity of Knowle residents in general will be significant.
“Previous concerns over the damage to buildings and the roads in the village caused by heavy goods vehicles will be bound to increase.”
This could put Arden School pupils at risk on the walk to and from school, it says, and damage historic buildings.
Vehicles should instead leave at junction 4 of the M42 and not the proposed junction 5 and travel through Hockley Heath. This would have a “minimal impact”.
Dorridge railway bridge may be too low, it says, but smaller vehicles could get through or Sainsbury’s would have to pay for bridge alterations.
It concludes: “We reiterate that we see the need to improve Forest Court and a modest supermarket there might well be an acceptable option.
“However the total impact of the current proposal on Knowle and its surroundings would be such that it cannot possibly be allowed to go ahead as currently planned.”
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