BASE HEADER

No

ID sylw: 107246

Derbyniwyd: 07/03/2025

Ymatebydd: Solihull MBC

Strategic Growth Location SG24 Hockley Heath Group of sites:

The Preferred Options Version of the SWLP states that the majority of the strategic growth needs of the area will be met in Priority Areas 1 to 3. Hockley Heath is one of 24 strategic growth areas identified as having the potential to accommodate growth.

SMBC does not support the identification of sites at Hockley Heath as a strategic growth location, and strongly objects to its inclusion.
Hockley Heath is a small settlement located within Solihull, but closely bounded on three sides by the boundary with Stratford upon Avon and Warwick District Council. As a consequence, any proposals which focused significant growth within or adjacent to this settlement would have cross boundary implications. The existing settlement is small scale therefore significant development could affect the character and amenity of the existing settlement; and it does not have the scale of infrastructure needed to support the proposed development.
In response to the Issues and Options consultation in March 2023 SMBC identified the issue of potential growth related to a number of ‘call for sites’ submissions around Hockley Heath. At that time the dispersed growth option did not indicate the Hockley Heath area as an indicative location that may feature in this option. Nor was the village listed in the settlements considered under this option. The Council supported this position.
It was pointed out that to identify the settlement as a location for growth to take place in South Warwickshire would be considered to run contrary to the spatial strategy in Solihull’s plan. It would have a detrimental impact on the character of the village and would not be supported by the necessary infrastructure, a factor complicated by not being within the same local planning authority.
In the Solihull Local Plan Review the settlement had been identified in the spatial strategy as a rural settlement identified for just limited expansion. In accordance with the spatial strategy an allocation (in Solihull’s plan) to accommodate some 100 dwellings has been made for the settlement and it is considered that this fulfils the ability of the settlement to accommodate limited expansion. The Inspectors carrying out the examination of Solihull’s plan indicated that the plan’s spatial strategy was appropriate in principle.
The Local Plan Review was withdrawn in October 2024 and the Council has committed in the Local Development Scheme to the preparation of a new Local Plan Review. This review will be prepared in accordance with the Revised NPPF.
SMBC acknowledges that the strategic growth areas have been put forward for consultation purposes and that not all of these areas will be needed and taken forward to provide for the area’s growth needs over the plan period. At this stage these have been included in the preferred options document to explore the range of reasonable alternatives and further work will be undertaken prior to the publication of the Regulation 19 consultation to set out which will be allocated.
Some of the identified strategic growth locations including SG24 are located within the Green Belt. It is acknowledged that further evidence is being prepared to further consider the sustainability of the options. Stage 2 of the green belt assessment will provide more detailed consideration of areas considered for development including the contribution an area makes to green belt purposes and the impact on the wider green belt if this area was released. This evidence will enable a wider assessment of the most sustainable options for accommodating South Warwickshire’s housing and employment land needs. This will include whether there are sufficient non-Green Belt locations or whether there are clear sustainability to utilising green belt locations. This will form the basis of exceptional circumstances arguments to justify green belt release.
SMBC would reiterate the need to ensure that careful assessment of the sustainability of different options is undertaken and in the case of Green Belt locations to justify exceptional circumstances. The plan should ensure that the site selection process to finalise sites taken forward in the regulation 19 version of the plan reflects the up-to-date approach set out in the NPPF in relation to Green Belt. SMBC would welcome sufficient opportunity to review and comment on the evidence presented in the stage 2 Green Belt assessment particularly in relation to sites in the vicinity of Hockley Heath (SG24)
The plan states that within the strategic growth areas development will only be accommodated where it is of sufficient scale for significant infrastructure upgrades to be provided on site. We wish to reiterate earlier consultation responses that Hockley Heath is a small settlement with limited facilities and services; and SMBC does not consider there is sufficient evidence to demonstrate that this is the right location to focus development. SMBC consider that any proposals which focus growth on sites adjacent to Hockley Heath would have significant cross boundary implications for infrastructure delivery. Proposals would be likely to require Section 106 and CIL contributions for infrastructure and services that would be needed within the SMBC area. Such development would therefore need to align with the strategic growth vision for Solihull being progressed through the new Local Plan Review process.
If the South Warwickshire Plan is adopted with Hockley Heath identified as a strategic growth location, then the plan will need to acknowledge that the infrastructure supporting the development is likely to be within Solihull and mechanisms must be in place to ensure SMBC is the recipient of appropriate S106 monies and CIL receipts to enable appropriate infrastructure to be delivered. It is paramount that infrastructure needs are agreed with SMBC as they are materially affected. The Warwickshire IDP should recognise the Infrastructure need for the village and SMBC.