Blythe ward Councillor, Keith Green, says ‘enough is enough’ and calls for a Master Plan for Dickens Heath, Tidbury Green and Cheswick Green before new, and prospective, development applications are determined.

Blythe ward had three sites in the now withdrawn local plan successfully passing through the examination in public and are likely to be determined by Solihull’s planning committee in autumn this year. Keith said ‘There are issues with some of these sites so it is essential we establish a Master Plan for these communities before looking to determine any new applications.’

Recently there has been planning applications for:

200 homes on Arden Greem, off Tilehouse Lane, and

110 homes on land west of Rumbush Lane.

In addition, waiting in the wings are proposals for:

850 homes at Fulford Green, Rumbush Lane, and

200 homes land off Dickens Heath Road.

Keith says ‘It is realistic that before the end of this year we could have almost 2,000 new homes identified in the previous pan approved and then have the threat of between 1,500 to 2,000 additional homes to consider. It is vital a Masterplan for these communities is established before these speculative applications are considered. This must mean we delay determining new applications until our new local plan is produced’.

Keith asks residents to support his petition calling for a moratorium on these speculative planning applications which could destroy the fabric of our village communities.

Keith will present the petition to Solihull Council.

Follow the link below to access and support the petition

https://chng.it/Cws4PMgXKB

Blythe ward Councillor, Keith Green, says ‘enough is enough’ and calls for a Master Plan for Dickens Heath, Tidbury Green and Cheswick Green before new, and prospective, development applications are determined.

Recently there has been planning applications for:

200 homes on Arden Greem, off Tilehouse Lane, and

110 homes on land west of Rumbush Lane.

In addition, waiting in the wings are proposals for:

850 homes at Fulford Green, Rumbush Lane, and

200 homes land off Dickens Heath Road.

Keith says ‘It is realistic that before the end of this year we could have almost 2,000 new homes identified in the previous pan approved and then have the threat of between 1,500 to 2,000 additional homes to consider. It is vital a Masterplan for these communities is established before these speculative applications are considered. This must mean we delay determining new applications until our new local plan is produced’.

Keith asks residents to support his petition calling for a moratorium on these speculative planning applications which could destroy the fabric of our village communities.

https://www.change.org/p/call-for-development-masterplan?recruiter=1380576105&recruited_by_id=2c71cef0-72f7-11f0-bb83-67ff777e376d&utm_source=share_petition&utm_campaign=petition_dashboard&utm_medium=copylink

On a day where we have received notice that, planning Proposals for Arden Green (200 houses) and Land West of Rumbush lane (110 houses) have been submitted to Solihull Council, myself and Cllr Hawkins struggled through the congestion to talk about the lack of road infrastructure, and our worries looking forward.

Blythe Ward  Councillors have serious concerns over the Labour Government’s housing targets and the controversial “grey belt” reclassification which threatens to reshape our Wards cherished greenbelt and rural identity.

Under Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s administration, a renewed national focus on solving the housing crisis has led to sweeping reforms of planning laws, including encouraging development on areas previously protected under greenbelt status. 

Dubbed the “grey belt,” these zones—are previously developed land or land not contributing to the purposes of the greenbelt. This narrow definition is an open goal to developers.

One of our regualar updates from Cllr Ken Hawkins and myself

The draft local plan looks as though it will be ready for scrutiny by all as we approach the end of 2025, and after consultation will move forward to Planning by Mid 2026, obviously this timeline is a guideline at present and subject to change. Its important to stress that there is a lot of ongoing work and discussions happening behind the scenes to help protect our Green belt wherever possible from over development.

Social media is playing an ever increasing part in the way we communicate, and you will see from previous posts we have talked about the following topics

NHS funding in our ward and how new developments make extra financial contributions

Our Local Rail Network is it meeting residents expectations and demand, does it provide a good option to other modes of transport that we use.

Council Tax and how Solihull MBC compares to other local authorities within our region.

Police funding via the precept and comparing our region against other authorities both locally and nationally

Councillor Ken Hawkins and myself have been asked to explain a bit more about precepts, something added to our council tax bills.

Funding for the police comes both directly from a central government grant and from the police precept. The policing precept is the amount we contribute to local policing through our council tax bill. The precept varies across the UK. It is collected with the council tax and paid to the relevant police force.

West Midlands residents pay £229.50 per annum (Band D properties) and when compared with other authorities this is the second lowest in the UK.

Northumbria residents pay £181.84 – lowest in UK (see below graph from 2024/25 budgets)

Surrey residents pay the highest in England at £337.57 pa some £108 more per Band D property than West Midlands. (Three Wales police authorities are highest).

Some comparisons with neighbouring forces:

 West Midlands         £229.50

 Staffordshire            £287.57

 West Mercia            £291.50

 Warwickshire           £303.7

This graph, taken from Northumbria Council budget report 2024/25 may help explain things more clearly:

What does this mean?

West Midlands Police are obviously a lean force but, as several police and crime commissioners and chief constables have claimed, it is not funded fairly by central government when compared to other police forces. Governments, and previous commissioners, have cited the amount we pay in precept as a means of closing the funding gap.

We therefore reluctantly conclude that this government will look to the residents of the West Midlands to pay more for our Policing .

Most would agree that we need our Police Force to be suitably and adequately funded to meet the ever increasing demands that they face

If you glance on social media, wherever you are in the UK, you may find complaints that ‘their’ own council has an exorbitant rate of council tax. I read similar statements here in Solihull, but the truth is, we have one of the lowest in the UK.

I have compared Solihull’s council tax with others in the West Midlands Combined Authority area, with just one authority setting a lower amount. That authority is Dudley. I have compared the rate on Bands E, F and H.

At Band D, you pay £432.94 more in Walsall, with £348.65 and £347.78 more in Wolverhampton and Coventry respectively.

An internet search reveals Solihull has the 59^th lowest when compared with 347 other local councils: The most expensive Council Tax in the UK & where is it cheapest?

Now, when we look at GARDEN WASTE charges:

Birmingham                                 £61:80

Coventry                                        £40

Dudley                                           £52

Sandwell                                       £40

Walsall                                           Free service – costs authority £1.1m to run ( Band D and Band E Council Tax is   +£432.94  /  +£529.12).

Wolverhampton                          £40

Solihull                                          £44

Notwithstanding the council tax or garden waste collection charges, the acid test must be ‘are the residents’ getting value for money from their council?’ You could pay more and get a decent service, but also pay a lot less to find your local council has effective and economic services.

RAILWAYS

It is fair to say that rail travel has seen a few issues, before, during and post covid and here in Blythe ward we have access to rail travel via various stations Solihull , Whitlock end , Earlswood , Wythall and Widney Manor stations.

Blythe Ward Councillor Ken Hawkins sits on the West Midlands Rail Executive (WMRE), a not-for-profit company, which is owned by local authorities in the region. They are democratically run and accountable to elected representatives, and act on behalf of people in the region.

The board does not own or operate the trains but want to maximise the benefits of the rail network for local communities. You can find out more about what the WMRE does here: https://wmre.org.uk/who-we-are/

We would like your thoughts about our local and regional rail services (including those from Birmingham New Street and Birmingham International).

You can ether comment below, which is preferred as it might jog others into responding, or email either of us on

khawkins@solihull.gov.uk

Or

keith.green@solihull.gov.uk

We would like to know what you feel about rail services in the region. For example:

If you use rail services, what do you feel could be improved? If you do not use rail, give a short explanation as to what could be done to get you on board?

Do services meet your needs – what is your experience?

Do you feel rail travel is value for money? Are trains reliable and frequent enough?

Do you feel safe on a train or at stations?

Please feel free comment further.

Section 106 funding supports NHS services by requiring developers to contribute towards healthcare infrastructure impacted by new housing developments.

Cllr Kenneth Hawkins and myself have mentioned previous our plea for the NHS to seek more substantial sums to address the extra demand in primary and secondary care that will arise through more development. One big complaint from existing residents is that, if its difficult to get a doctor’s appointment now, then what will it be like when we have more people moving into the area? This complaint is well made and it is fair to state the NHS did not seek funding when developments were approved, whereas the education sector did.

We wrote about this earlier this year, sharing the 2020 Solihull Infrastructure Delivery Plan. One of our concerns was that, as the document began its like at the start of Covid, we have seen an exponential demand in primary and secondary care and the 2020 data needed revisiting: https://cllrkenhawkins.co.uk/2024/07/08/solihull-infrastructure-delivery-plan/

We can highlight the Section 106 funding requests submitted by the Integrated Care Board (ICB) within the local Birmingham and Solihull NHS. We note there is some discrepancy in that there are two developments of the same size (450 homes) and two different values. I suspect the £862,917 request may be for both the Tilehouse Lane and Tythe Barn Lane site combined but will confirm. The sum for the larger Dog Kennel Lane site is an approximate on but I expect it to be closer to £2m.

What is special about the Dog Kennel Lane site though is that following a practice manager at Tanworth Lane surgery seeking information, we met and engaged with developers and the ICB. There does seem to be a willingness to establish a new surgery on site.

Tilehouse Lane – 450 homes at £862,917

Tythe Barn Lane – up to 90 homes – at £345,167

Wood Farm – 450 homes at £414,947

Dog Kennel Lane – 1,110 homes (approx.)

450 homes at £862,917

750 homes – tbc

This is not to state that each application is cut and dry and will be approved . We will post an update as to where we are with each site and the local plan very soon

The Council Plan is the Councils most important document and sets out the vision for Solihull and the role of the Council acheiving this

Please follow the link below

https://www.solihull.gov.uk/news/2025/solihull-council-plan-2025-2030-approved