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BRUM ESTATE “COULD DOUBLE IN SIZE”

28-01-2008

Birmingham’s regeneration boss has admitted he’s considering plans to double the number of houses on the city’s Druids Heath estate – and says that he would personally support a 50% increase in density.

The figures have emerged ahead of a meeting tonight at which residents will have the chance to quiz councillors – including the Cabinet member responsible for urban renewal, Neville Summerfield.

We recently questioned the apparently secrecy in which consultations have so far taken place, but Summerfield assured us that he wants to find out what the locals think.

He said, “As a city, we’ve signed up to finding 50,000 new homes and the government has given us money for a feasibility study.

“There are a number of options on the table, and one of them involves building an extra 2,500 new homes on top of the 2,500 that are already there.

““My personal preference would be for less than that, maybe just 50% extra houses.  If you look at the estate, it’s not well laid out and there’s lots of green space that isn’t really well used.

“There’d probably be a mixture of houses for sale, part-rent and part-buy, and others would be for rent through a registered social landlord.

“Let me assure you though, that nothing will be done unless the people who live there are happy with.”

Given the scale of proposed housing, there will be real concern about the quality of the environment, especially in an area which already suffers from multiple deprivation.

Druids Heath residents famously fought off developers several years ago by winning a landmark case and getting a local open space known as The Dell designated as a village green.

We can be sure that with the West Midlands region committed to finding 362,000 new homes, this story will become a familiar one over coming months and years.

See also "The Great Druids Heath Mystery" (see link here)
 
Tonight's meeting is at Baverstock School, starting at 7pm.  All welcome.