BLUE AND GREEN SHOULD NEVER BE SEEN

24-01-2007

The traditional blue of the Tories has been replaced by a distinctly greenish tinge since David Cameron took over the leadership. But as Barbara Panvel has discovered, the message still doesn't seem to have reached Solihull.

There's a large area of derelict council-owned land on Haslucks Green Road in Shirley which people in the area have long wanted to see used well. Imaginative ideas for its redevelopment were put forward in a competition by some residents.

Four experienced people agreed to judge the entries and in December the finalists were announced. The overall winner was Fred Carpenter, selected by MP Lorely Burt and Sir Adrian Cadbury, who emphasized the importance of listening to the people ‘living with the situation'.

A key factor in selecting Fred's entry was that he'd thought about the year by year running costs of the project, not just the initial building cost. Aware of an acute shortage of affordable single-person three-storey apartments in the borough of Solihull, he proposed an attractive Italian-style courtyard development around a central garden with a water feature.

Drawing on his experience in the trade he described the design, with attention to materials used, energy conservation, ventilation features, trouble-free plumbing design and a shared utility room on each floor.

His attractive map showed the whole design: car parks for residents and customers separating the proposed housing from a retail development, including a pleasant café opening on to the park, and a small shopping arcade which would lead people into the main road, encouraging them to visit the wealth of small shops there. This development would preserve a threatened ring of oaks and not encroach on parkland.

Along the front of Stratford Road he suggested an Internet café for the ‘young uns', a market, a home store, and restaurants serving food from around the world, ‘making Shirley the place to go for a different night out'.

So how will the site be used? Has a sympathetic developer selected ‘an alternative to the soulless redevelopment schemes we have seen all too often inflicted on town centres' as Alan Clawley advised? Something akin to Fred's proposal, or Margaret Dryhurst's plan for a leisure/social club for the youth of Shirley, selected by George Morran, or Carl Smith's glamorous designs for a multi-use arena for ice hockey, commended by those who felt that the area needed more provision for young people.

Or was it based on Dr Colin Thompson's lively ten-point plan which catered for all the arts, included a skills-training centre for people of all ages, various types of small/medium sized business accommodation and renewable energy features, selected by Alan Clawley?

Alas, no. The council - though elected to serve the people of Shirley - autocratically decided to become a partner in a commercial venture on this site and support a retail war by signing a contract to build a large Asda/Walmart store, in a suburb which already has six supermarkets. It further offered them three acres of Shirley's parkland, destroying the oak circle and avenue in order to fund the development by building ‘desirable' park-view flats.

Bouquets for Fred, Margaret, Carl, Colin and the four judges: brickbats for the current ruling party, which should at least be consistent and stop advocating brownfield building whilst actually using greenfield sites.

(see the Keep Shirley Alive story here)