Frequently Asked Questions

The ethos of Regenerating North Solihull is to bring about physical change through talking to people who live and work in the area. So, community support is key. It is crucial to the project that we meet residents needs and aspirations.

We want to make North Solihull a better place, to work live and play.

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North Solihull's retail offering is outdated and severely limited.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

We are looking at all aspects of the area to improve the lives of the people in North Solihull, which includes:

Housing

Village Centres

Education

Transport and Roads

Green space

Yes! We always make our plans available for people to view. Click here to see them. Our comments do make a difference and we really want to hear your views on our designs. We send out invitations to all residents and businesses that are affected by our plans, inviting them to come along and talk to us. We can even arrange one of our team to come and visit you in our home to talk to you about Regenerating North Solihull.

Detailed plans, however, cannot all be done at once, so there are three main areas – the South, Central and North - each covering roughly one third of North Solihull (Chelmsley Wood, Smiths Wood and Kingshurst & Fordbridge).

Plans will be developed by area (called Area Plans), with individual neighbourhood plans developed afterwards.

The 3 areas and individual neighbourhoods are:

South AreaWest Chelmsley Road Allcott Hall Alcott Wood Chapelhouse North Fordbridge Craig Croft Yorkminster Drive

Central AreaCooks Lane Bacons End

North AreaKingshurst & Babbs Mill North Arran Way Woodlands Lanchester Way

The funding and regeneration model to make the regeneration work, depended on a partnership being set up, which happened in 2005.

Everything planned on the Regenerating North Solihull programme will be completed by 2020.

Over £1.8 billion is being invested into the area by 2020.

The North Solihull Partnership is made up of four partners. As a private and public sector partnership, each partner has a specific role:

Bellway Homes - is building and designing all the new homes in the area. For more information visit www.bellway.co.uk

Inpartnership - is working to create the new Village Centres and has an overall strategic role in the project. For more information visit www.inpartnershipgroup.com

Solihull Council - is encouraging investment into the area and re-building the primary schools. For more information visit www.solihull.gov.uk  Solihull Coucnil are also running a separate project where they are re-building all of the Secondary Schools in the area.

Whitefriars Housing Group - looks after community consultation and information events. For more information visit www.whitefriarshousing.co.uk

So hundreds of people all work together to form the Regenerating North Solihull team, alongside the 40,000 people living in the area.

 

Regenerating North Solihull is a hugely complex project. Many regeneration projects take place in areas such as former industrial sites where often the bulldozers can move in and create a blank canvas. But in North Solihull, we are hoping to completely transform the area in terms of housing and amenities, while alongside the 40,000 residents who live in the area.

Regenerating North Solihull is responsible for the creation of new Village Centres. (see Computer Generated Image of North Arran Way Village Centre).

When we talk about Village Centres, we mean a collection of local amenities that will service your community, such as shops, schools and health centres.

Village Centres will either be where local centres are now or in new, more accessible locations. The Village Centres are:

· Kingshurst Village Centre· Bacon's End Village Centre· North Arran Way Village Centre · Craig Croft Village Centre · Bosworth Drive Village Centre

(We can provide more information about what is happening at the moment for each centre.

The Chelmsley Wood town centre improvements are run by a different partnership between the shopping centre owners Fordgate and a project management company called Barton Willmore. Solihull Council are also involved in this project.

 

The ASDA store is going ahead, but the North Solihull Partnership are not involved in the Chelmsley Wood town centre improvements it is difficult to give you detailed information.

To find out more you can go to Solihull Council's website here. Or call 0121 704 6154

The new schools will be extended schools, meaning they'll be open to the community for longer, with more clubs and activities for children to enjoy before school, after school and in the holidays, as well as offering opportunities for adults to access college courses. There will be excellent early years and pre school facilities on site  and brand-new computer equipment will be available for everyone who uses the buildings.

New schools also mean a better chance for children because we are investing time and money in expert advice and support for every primary school in the area.  This means that some of the latest and most up-to-date ways of learning will be available and every child will get the start in life they deserve.

Also the number of children living in the area is falling – so some schools are quite empty.

12,500 homes will be improved

8,000 new homes will be built

the net delivery of new homes is expected to total 4,500

As we make plans for each of are three main areas – the South, Central and North, we will show where we propose new housing to go. We will then ask local residents to come and see these plans and tell us what they think. This consutlation has already happened in the North and South areas. For more information go to Your Area page.

 

One of the biggest challenges is not just finding alternative homes for those directly affected by the regeneration scheme, but finding homes that local people are both eligible for and are happy with.

So far more than 170 residents have been found alternative accommodation, all with their agreement. (Take a look at our John Hall case study on Our Stories page).

One of the biggest challenges is not just finding alternative homes for those directly affected by the regeneration scheme, but finding homes that local people are both eligible for and are happy with.

So far more than 170 residents have been found alternative accommodation, all with their agreement. (Take a look at our John Hall case study on Our Stories page).

We hope to make improvements not only for young people in Chelmsley Wood but also those in Smith's Wood, Kingshurst & Fordbridge too.

When looking at all aspects of the regeneration programme we take in account the young people living in the area. We have created a new basketball court at Babb's Mill Park, and a new ball park is currently being built at Chapelhouse Recreation Ground. We want to encourage young people to stay living in the area.

We are always very keen to hear the views of young people in the area. We encourage them to get them involved in Regenerating North Solihull, from running a talent search in our bi-monthly newsletter to sponsoring the stage at the North Solihull Community Festival. 

We also work closely with the Building Schools for the Future Programme, which is a national programme to refurbish or rebuild every secondary school in England over the next 15 years, creating world-class, 21st-century schools which will inspire learning for decades to come.

The same net total of green space will be left after the regeneration, and we are improving current that space to be safe, clean, accessible and fun for everyone.  

This is absolutely not true! If you go down to Kingshurst you can see the first new school we are building. Click here to find out more about the new schools programme.

...there will be! The first few are going to be built near to Greenfinch Road in Smiths Wood. Click here to see where we are building more.

Located on the eastern edge of Birmingham within the West Midlands, the three wards of Chelmsley Wood, Smith's Wood, Kingshurst & Fordbridge were created close to Birmingham International Airport.

 

Over 20,000 residents live in the area and it forms part of the larger Metropolitan Borough of Solihull which itself has a population of 200,400.

 

To hear more about the history of the area click here.

 

Facts about the area.

 

Strategic Framework

The Strategic Framework is an overall plan setting out what could be done across North Solihull over the next 15 years. It acts as a guide to all the developments and changes happening as part of the regeneration of your area.

Area Plans

The first steps to turning the proposals in the Strategic Framework into something that will, in reality, work are the Area Plans.

For these plans North Solihull has been spilt into three main areas;

North

Central

South

When we are consulting in your area, we will send you a letter or a flyer inviting you to come and see our draft ideas for what could change in your area.  These draft ideas and plans show where new roads might go, where new housing sites could be built, and where could improve green space, shops and facilities.  

It's important that we look at the bigger picture before we go into more detailed planning. So there won't be lots of details at this stage because we want to hear your views on the broad idea to see if they are right before we so more work on the details. 

Your ideas will help shape the next stage of our plans, and we always make sure you're updated on how we're getting on by writing to you and putting updates in this newsletter.

Neighbourhood Plans

Once we have developed an Area Plan, we will then look at developing the individual Neighbourhood Plans, these go into detail about what changes will happen.

It takes around 12 months to develop a Neighbourhood plan from initial consultations to final approval by Councillors from Solihull Council.

You will be invited to consultation events at every stage of the Neighbourhood Planning process. We're already doing this in three neighbourhoods; Craig Croft, North Arran Way and Kingshurst & Babbs Mill.

The most important thing to remember is that, if you do need to move home as part of our regeneration plans, we will visit you individually in your home and explain everything to you, including the financial help we can offer you.

To sum it up

Every time we create new plans, if they relate to where you live, we will always invite you to come and see them and have your say. If you are a resident and want to know at what stage you are at then click here.