Knowle marina appeal rejected

A MARINA plan for Stripes Hill in Knowle has been thrown out on appeal.

Click the headline or link below to read the rest of this story.

Marina campaigner thanks neighbours

A KNOWLE resident who led a fight against a marina plan that was rejected this week by planners has thanked neighbours for opposing the plan.

Click the headline or link below to read the rest of this story.

Knowle marina plan rejected

A CONTROVERSIAL bid to build a marina off Jacobean Lane in Knowle has failed after a developer lost an appeal.

Click the headline or link below to read the rest of this story.

Warning over Knowle housing plans

THE Knowle Society has hit out at massive house building plans for the village, warning it will put a strain on schools and health services.


View Solihull development framework in a larger map

The group said the plan for 340 homes on three sites (see map, above) would swell the village’s 10,000 population by 1,000.

Click the headline or link below to read the rest of this story.

New battle as marina appeal date confirmed

KNOWLE residents are gearing up to fight an appeal over a delayed controversial marina plan.

Click the headline or link below to read the rest of this story.

Reject Stripes Hill marina, society urges

CONSERVATION group The Knowle Society has urged a planning boss not to allow a major marina development.

Click the headline or link below to read the rest of this story.

Garden signs oppose marina plan

KNOWLE residents are placing signs in their front gardens to oppose a marina plan.

A developer is to have its bid for a marina off Jacobean Lane, connected to the Grand Union canal, heard in August.

The Planning Inspectorate will make the final decision on the plan, for Green Belt land, after it was rejected by Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council in December.

Click here for marina stories.

Public inquiry over Knowle marina plan

AN appeal over refusal for a Knowle marina plan will be heard at a two-day public inquiry in August, it has been confirmed.

The case for land off Jacobean Lane will be heard on August 3 and 4 at the Christian Renewal Centre in Lode Lane from 10am each day. The public are welcome to attend.

Click the headline or link below to read the rest of this story.

Second Knowle marina plan goes to appeal

AN appeal has been lodged against a council’s refusal for a marina plan off the Warwick Road in Knowle.

Click the headline or link below to read the rest of this story.

Throw out marina plan, Knowle Society urges

THE Knowle Society conservation group has urged planners to throw out an appeal for a controversial marina plan.

Click the headline or link below to read the rest of this story.

Council: we lost marina objections

COUNCIL chiefs have admitted they lost almost 500 objects to a Knowle marina plan.

Click the headline or link below to read the rest of this story.

Council apologises over marina blunder

A COUNCIL boss has apologised because almost 500 objections to a Knowle marina plan now needed for an appeal are ‘unavailable’.

Click the headline or link below to read the rest of this story.

Appeal over Knowle marina plan

A DEVELOPER has launched an appeal after permission was refused for a marina off Jacobean Lane in Knowle.

Click the headline or link below to read the rest of this story.

Marina rejection reasons in full

DETAILS of why two canal marina plans for Knowle were rejected by council bosses have been placed online.

Councillors had fears about the affect on the Green Belt, flooding and listed buildings.

The first plan, for Stripes Hill Farm off the Warwick Road, was rejected by Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council because of Green Belt concerns.

The official decision says: “It is considered that the proposal amounts to inappropriate development as it constitutes an engineering operation that does not maintain the openness of the Green Belt and it conflicts with the purposes of including land in the Green Belt.

“Having regard to the scale and artificial nature of the engineering operations and extensive re-grading, together with the associated urbanising effects, it is considered to have a significant impact on the openness of the Green Belt.

“The proposed development is therefore harmful, by definition and by other harm, and substantial weight is given to this factor.”

And it said there are not “very special circumstances” which would allow Green Belt development to “clearly outweigh the harm caused”.

The decision for the second plan, for land off Jacobean Lane, also says it would “not maintain the openness of the Green Belt”.

It says: “Having regard to the scale and artificial nature of the engineering operations and extensive re-grading, together with the associated urbanising effects, it is considered to have a significant impact on the openness of the Green Belt.”

The development is “harmful” and does not amount to very special circumstances, it adds.

It adds the plan would also “unacceptably detract from the setting of the agricultural context of the grade II Listed Building, Grove Farm and its curtilage listed buildings”.

The decision concludes: “Insufficient information has been submitted to demonstrate that the proposal would not result in flooding on and off site.

“In the absence of any evidence to the contrary, the proposal is considered to pose an unacceptable risk of flooding.”

The schemes were rejected by the council’s planning committee on December 17.

Click here for more marina stories.

What do you think? Leave your comments below. No registration required.

Knowle marina plans rejected

TWO marina plans for Knowle were rejected by councillors tonight.

The bids for Stripes Hill Farm off the Warwick Road and another for land off Jacobean Lane was thrown out by Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council's planning committee.

Officers recommended the former be approved and the latter rejected. Both were seeking 'special cicumstances' permission to cut marinas into the Green Belt.

Meriden MP Caroline Spelman said today: “I am delighted that these applications have been rejected as I do not believe that they constitute the ‘special circumstances’ in which Green Belt land should undergo development.”

Another bid for Hockley Heath is being considered by Warwick District Council.

Click here for marina stories.

What do you think? Leave your comments below. No registration required.

Knowle marina D-Day tonight

COUNCILLORS will decide the fate of two controversial planning applications for marinas in Knowle tonight.

Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council officers recommend a plane for Stripes Hill Farm off the Warwick Road be approved while another for land off Jacobean Lane be rejected.

The planning committee will meet at 6pm at the council's offices in Solihull town centre. The public are welcome to attend.

Click here to read marina stories.

Minister: marinas "essential"

MARINAS are “essential” and “important” a minister told an MP concerned about waterway developments in the Solihull area.

Meriden MP Caroline Spelman asked Jim Fitzpatrick, minister for food, farming and environment, where his department had issued guidance on marinas.

She also asked whether he had discussed the issue with British Waterways, which is entering into commercial deals for the schemes.

Two are planned for Knowle and one for Hockley Heath, concerning residents. Council chiefs urge one be approved and the other ditched. Click here for other marina stories.

He said: “Marinas are [an] essential facility to support the use of the waterways network and its significant contribution to the wider visitor economy.

“Offline marinas prevent congestion along our historic waterways and so free up the navigation for leisure and commercial use.

“This is particularly important in the light of substantial growth in boat numbers over the past 10 years.”

Schemes had to meet planning laws, which are a matter for the Department of Communities and Local Government, he said.

Mrs Spelman then asked this department whether it has “made an assessment of the merits of monitoring planning applications for marina developments”.

Ian Austin minister of state for the West Midlands replied: “No assessment has been made of the merits of monitoring planning applications for marina developments.”

Council: accept one marina, reject other

A CONTROVERSIAL marina plan for the Warwick Road, Knowle should be approved, council officers say – but they urge another off Jacobean Lane be thrown out.

Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council members will be asked to agree with the recommendations at a special meeting of the planning committee on Thursday.

The plan for 223 berths, 106 parking spaces, an office, toilets and showers at Stripes Hill Farm, by Wyndley Garden Centre is backed by a planning officer.

In a report they say the plan would not “cause undue harm” to the Grand Union Canal locks as it is already busy and would undergo landscape changes.

It adds: “The proposal is not expected to generate significant noise, disturbance or result in a loss of visual amenity to existing surrounding residents, or cause harm to highway safety.”

Some residents raised fears that extra traffic in and out of the site, into the existing farm track road, would pose a danger to cars coming down hilly Warwick Road.

The reports admits development in the Green Belt is “inappropriate” but this was outweighed by a “relatively modest visual impact”.

The need for such a facility, lack of alternatives, “regenerative benefits” and “support from all tiers of planning policy” backs approval, it adds.

Some 35 letters opposed the plan, including Meriden MP Caroline Spelman, plus a petition with 162 signatures.

Comments included “access totally unsuitable, threat to highway safety” and “noise/pollution from boat repair operations”.

The Government can intervene and over-rule the council if it wishes.

The second scheme would not cause “undue harm to landscape and ecology features” the report says.

Not would it “generate significant noise, disturbance or result in a loss of visual amenity to existing surrounding residents, or cause harm to highway safety”.

Yet it adds that “extensive” landscape changes would “unacceptably detract” from nearby grade II listed Grove Farm.

The plan, for 140 berths, a new road from Jacobean Lane and 40 spaces, would make “extensive changes to the rural character of the Green Belt” and “extensive harm” to its openness.

The report concludes: “The need/demand for a marina in this location in terms of its regenerative benefits fails to amount to very special circumstances to justify such inappropriate development.”

Some 121 letters objected to the plan, including Mrs Spelman and two petitions with 335 names.

The meeting will be held at 6pm on Thursday at the council’s offices in Solihull town centre. The public are welcome to attend. Click here for details.

Click here for other marina stories from The Silhillian.

Marina plan decision delayed

TWO planning applications for marinas in Knowle will not be decided on Wednesday as previously thought.

Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council had said it was hoping to have the planning committee vote on the two applications this month. It said it did not know when a decision would be taken.

The plans for land off Jacobean Lane and the Warwick Road has angered many residents. Another application is being considered by Warwick District Council for Hockley Heath.

The planning committee meets every month.

Click here for stories about the plans.

Meeting and council opposes marina plan

LAPWORTH Parish Council members last night (Mon Nov 30) objected to a marina for Hockley Heath after a heated public meeting.

It urged Warwick District Council to reject the application, for land adjoining Sands Farm, right, over issues such as use of Green Belt and access.

Earlier, GJP Marina Developments Ltd explained its plans to about 80 people.

Many voiced objections to the scheme. More than 100 have written letters to opposition to the council. Read them here.

They included Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council leader Ken Meeson, who wrote:
“The development would mean the loss of valuable Green Belt and therefore impact on the local environment for my constituents.”

Two supported it. Karen Varga, of Alcester, Warwickshire said: “I own a narrow boat, and tried to live on it, but was hounded off the water by not being able to find a mooring.”

Mrs. S. D. Cooper, of Stratford Road in Hockley Heath, said: “I think it will bring new life to the village, and extra trade to our shops, pubs and restaurants.

“This will ensure that we keep our amenities, rather than becoming a dying village, like so many others.”

Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council’s planning committee is set to consider two marina applications for Knowle on December 9. The Hockley Heath application will be decided in private as a “delegated” decision.

Click here for marina stories.