Housing scheme for former golf course putts too much pressure on local area

Plans to build up to 1,000 new homes on the site of a disused golf course on the outskirts of Birmingham look set to be rejected.

Bloor Homes wants to build the homes on the former North Worcestershire Golf Club in Northfield. The 32.35ha site is bounded by Frankley Beeches Road/Hanging Lane/Elan Road/Josiah Road/Tessall Lane.

The golf course closed at the end of March last year.

The proposals involve the demolition of former club house and the development of up to 1,000 homes with new public open space, a primary school, multi-use community hub, new access points and associated infrastructure.

However, the scheme has attracted widespread opposition for its size, impact on local infrastructure and schools, loss of open space and a likely increase in traffic volumes.

The developer has offered to create 9.73ha of new public open space to compensate for the loss of such a large amenity space. The Ecology Park would include new wetland areas, grassland, woodland and informal recreation space.

An all-weather artificial sports pitch and equipped children’s play areas would also be installed.

Bloor has also pledged space for a two-form primary school to help ease the burden on surrounding schools, while the separate community hub could accommodate a church, meeting rooms, GP surgery and changing facilities for the 3G sports pitch.

However, its offers have been deemed insufficient to compensate for the impact of the proposals, which are due for consideration by today’s Birmingham city planning committee.

The council’s leisure services has opposed the development due to loss of private open space. It said the loss of recreational space of this magnitude would compound the lack of public and private playing fields in the ward, while the offer of 9.73ha of public open space was of limited interest.

It said the loss of playing field to the size of the development proposed warranted compensation of almost £3.1m.

Sport England has also objected to the scheme, saying the developer needed to adequately compensate the local area for the loss of such a large amenity. It said alternative golfing provision should be offered while funding for alternative sports facilities should be in the order of: sports halls (£539,058), swimming pools (£648,429), artificial grass pitches (£112,348) and Indoor bowls (£59,211); creating a total sum of £1.4m.

The council’s education department said the development was likely to generate the need for 38 nursery aged pupils, 263 primary aged pupils and 188 secondary aged pupils, and the offer of a two-form primarily school was woefully inadequate.

Ward councillors have also expressed concerns about the amount of traffic likely to be generated by the development and the inability of surrounding roads to cope.

A petition signed by 130 people has also objected to the scheme on the grounds of pollution and traffic congestion.

The proposals are recommended for refusal on the grounds that the site has not been designated for housing in the adopted Local Plan and that the scheme fails to provide sufficient compensation to offset the loss of 32.34ha of sporting facility. The compensation package of 9.73ha of open space is considered insufficient.

In addition, the proposals fail to make adequate education provision and the offer of a two-form primary school is insufficent to meet needs.

The ecological needs of the area are also not served by the development, with an imbalance between green areas and open space.

Additionally, the likely amount of traffic that be generated would be too much for existing infrastructure to cope with.