Frequently Asked Questions

Why has the decision been made to regenerate the area?

The three wards Chelmsley Wood, Kingshurst & Fordbridge and Smith's Wood, make up the 1,000 acre North Solihull regeneration area.

They were built in the 1960's within greenbelt land as an overspill to Birmingham's ever growing population. As there was no existing community the planners and architects followed the architectural trends of the time, rather than the needs of the residents

Solihull Council wanted to improve the lives of local people, but knew they couldn't do this on their own so set up the North Solihull Partnership which enabled money to be raised through the council's land assets that could then be invested back in the whole community. 

Reasons for regeneration:

Once the decline of traditional industry set in the early 1990s, together with dilapidation of the buildings and infrastructure, things have changed and the area has seen quite a bit of decline.

North Solihull falls within the top 10 per cent of deprived neighbourhoods within England. (IMD 2004)

People over 16 are four times less as likely to have no qualifications than those in south Solihull.

The formulaic Radburn housing layout created thousands of 2 and 3 bedroom houses and flats, but nothing bigger or smaller.

There are limited numbers of jobs available within North Solihull, and accessibility via public transport to employment hubs such as the NEC is inadequate.

North Solihull's retail offering is outdated and severely limited.

The average age of death in North Solihull is a decade earlier than in the South of the Borough.

Teenage pregnancy and low birth weights are also current issues in North Solihull.

The North Solihull Partnership was created in 2005 to address all these issues.