Planners give green light to Cadbury estate homes scheme
PLANS for a substantial new housing development on an historic estate in Birmingham have been given the green light by planners.
Housing developer Crest Nicholson is proposing to build 138 new homes on land at Manor House, off Bristol Road South in Northfield.
The scheme would see the re-imagining of the former family seat of the Cadbury family.
The application site extends to 5.99ha and currently accommodates a number of existing buildings including two small dwellings, Rose Cottage and Windmill Cottage, which are in a current state of disrepair.
To the centre of the site stood the original Manor House, built in 1820, which was a home of George and Elizabeth Cadbury and their family until Elizabeth’s death in 1951. The Manor House and wider grounds were subsequently acquired by the University of Birmingham in 1952, whereupon a number of halls of residence buildings were constructed.
The university later facilitated the construction of the Wolfson Wing and subsequently in the 1990’s it constructed the Joyce Cadbury Wing. The use of the site as student accommodation ceased in 2007.
The original home, Manor House, was destroyed by fire in 2014 and, due to structural and safety concerns, was subsequently demolished.
Crest Nicholson is proposing to build a mix of 59 new-build apartments, 26 new-build apartments in the re-instatement of the original Manor House and 53 houses.
The mix of accommodation would be:
• 36 one-bedroom apartments,
• 47 two-bedroom apartments,
• 2 three-bedroom apartments,
• 6 two-bedroom houses,
• 17 three-bedroom houses,
• 21 four-bedroom houses; and
• 9 five-bedroom houses.
The proposals were approved by Birmingham’s planning committee on the condition that the developer improved the social housing provision and made allowances for children’s play area.
