THE Knowle Society has published its long-awaited response to a Waitrose plan for the village by urging council chiefs to throw it out. The Silhillian looks in depth at its arguments.Click the headline or link below to read the rest of this story.
The society has said the plan to put a Waitrose on the site of the village hall, which would be moved to a former bowling green by the Red Lion pub car park, is the biggest planning application for the village since the 1960s.
To that end it sought views at a public exhibition, at an online forum and a meeting at Arden School attended by about 300 residents.
It has now published a detailed response setting out why it thinks Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council’s planning committee should throw out the plan.
The society said it is not opposed to a new food store in principle and there is a ‘very clear need’ to provide a facility for Dorridge residents.
Yet it says the proposed store is simply too big and ‘this scale of development will harm the character of the Conservation Area’. This affords Knowle extra protection from development.
A recent study, the ‘DTZ Retail’ study, found a need for a 550sqm net store by 2011 and 800sqm net – but the net sales area for Waitrose is 1,251sqm, it says.
It says the store would be biggest single block in he village.
The response says: “The development would introduce a significant and prominent commercial building into the scene and the car park would open up the view to the unsightly
rears of the High Street shops, quite spoiling the ambience and removing the natural boundary
of the Conservation Area.”
And it questions arguments for the need for such a large store.
The society says the argument ‘overstates’ an ‘unrealistically high’ level of Knowle and Dorridge residents using the store.
The response says “It would not be possible to retain such high levels of spend as people will always exercise choice to shop elsewhere, particularly given the proximity to Solihull town centre and the availability of other stores.”
Waitrose is ‘the top end of the quality scale and therefore the prices are generally higher than many other stores’ and so some would choose to go elsewhere, it adds.
The society says ‘there is no evidence that the local community widely supports these particular proposals’ as required under planning law for it to be approved.
It calls for the nature conservation merits of the bowling green to be ‘properly considered’.
Click here for stories about the plan.
Car parking and traffic also form key concerns.
It says children cross one entrance, to St John’s Close off the High Street by Loch Fyne restaurant, which poses a risk to safety.
The closure of the back entrance to the Red Lion car park would pose a risk as cars which would have to enter off the High Street, it adds.
The response says: “This is on a blind bend and opposite the junction with Kenilworth Road. This is bound to increase the likelihood of accidents, especially in the evenings.”
The developer has not addressed the ability of store lorries to turn left out of Station Road, one of two exits along with Lodge Road, it says.
And it says the proposed extra 52 spaces to make 180 spaces is ‘totally inadequate for a store which is explicitly targeted at bulk shopping trips’.
The society argues that, in reality, only 12 extra spaces are provided as the developer has not considered 26 spaces lost from the Red Lion, 17 on-road spaces and two disabled spaces outside Loch Fyne.
It also does not take into account staff parking, though Waitrose has insisted staff will not use the car parks.
It says spaces which end at the road pose hazards for shoppers trying to load into their boot or reverse into the traffic stream
The society says: “This arrangement has clearly been suggested in order to squeeze as many car park spaces as possible out of the inadequate space available.”
It concludes: “It cannot be realistic to introduce a new store into an area where there is already insufficient parking, where very little extra is being provided and where any such store must produce a significant extra demand.”
On the replacement of bungalows, the society says its ‘main concern’ is the affect on residents of six homes which would be moved by the new village hall.
It says noise from the Red Lion and users of the village hall ‘must impact on the amenity of the residents’.
A new bungalow at the junction of Lodge Road and Longdon Road would have a ‘much longer walk to the centre of the village and have to cross Lodge Road to do so’.
It points out that a plan for another bungalow on the site of lock up garages in St John’s Close, by the Lodge Road junction, has not said how these would be replaced.
Two behind the residential home in St John’s Close would move into land of a homeowner and be ‘too close’.
It adds: “The plot is on an awkward bend where vehicular access would be difficult.”
And it says of the existing bungalows: “While they are not designed to the most modern standards they are well maintained and perfectly adequate for their occupants.”
The society said it would not comment on the internal structure of the proposed village hall as that is a matter for hall chiefs but said the facility risked being hit by a lack of parking.
It said: “The insignificant increase in car parking spaces envisaged, together with the greatly increased demand due to shoppers at the new store must mean that the existing struggle to find a suitable parking space will become impossible and hirers will move elsewhere.”
It also raised concerns over the loss of trees.
“The lack of detail in the suggested and necessary landscaping that would be provided, and the absence of this detail by drawing and specification in the application is not acceptable.”
Yet the society said it would be happy to work with Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council to create a set of guildeines for any future plans for the area.
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