After lots of hard work, the ambitious plans for the wholesale transformation of Kingshurst Village Centre cleared a major hurdle in September with the approval of an Outline Planning Application.

Local residents and business owners have been integral in helping us progress the scheme to this point and we wanted to thank the community again for helping us get it right.

A report will be going to Cabinet later this week informing councillors of the progress so far. We wanted to take this opportunity to update you on what the next phase of the scheme will mean for those living and working in Kingshurst and what will happen next.

Cabinet Report

Thursday’s Cabinet Report will update elected members on the progress made so far and asks them to formally approve the move into the Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) stage.

Kingshurst is a complex site with property held by a range of different land owners. Over a year ago, the Council was awarded the necessary funding to start acquiring properties within the village centre in order to redevelop the whole site. This has been one of the biggest barriers to development of Kingshurst in the past, and it is one of the reasons it has taken longer to progress this scheme than other similar projects in the borough.

Good progress has been made acquiring the properties through the usual negotiations and we thank everyone who has been involved in this process to date. We would also like to thank people for sending back responses to the recent requests for information, which has helped us to understand if there are any other people who have legitimate interests in land or property within the scheme’s red line; there will be one further request for information letter coming soon.

Up until now we have not had to use our Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) powers but using these powers will allow us to draw a line under this phase and finally take control of the entire site to ensure the wholescale redevelopment of Kingshurst can be delivered.

What does this mean for residents within the red line?

Residents living within the scheme’s red line who haven’t been directly contacted about moving yet have no need to worry. The timetable for work to begin is still being reviewed but the dates that we are currently working to are Summer 2022 for commencing construction works. There will be some earlier demolition works but this will not affect residents who currently live in the parade.

We have set up a project team who will be able to offer advice and support about moving when the time comes. They will be contacting residents individually in the new year to explain the process further and set out how we are going to work with those affected to find alternative accommodation. In the meantime if you do have any concerns you can contact the Tenancy Sustainment Team on 0121 717 1528 or by email on schwelfarereform@solihullcommunityhousing.org.uk and a member of the team will be happy to speak to you.

What will happen to shops and services?

We will take a phased approach to the redevelopment. This will allow us to ensure that essential and high priority services are able to continue operating around the parade throughout the demolition and construction works. Early conversations with the businesses and services affected have already begun as to how this can be achieved. We are working hard to make sure that key services you need are able to continue through the first phases of construction. This will require some businesses moving temporarily to other parts of the parade. We are also supporting work looking at how we can bring a post office service back into Kingshurst and will keep you updated on our progress.

What next?

Now that we have an Outline Planning Application approved we are going into the detailed design phase of the masterplan. This means there will be more opportunity for you to get involved and offer your thoughts about the village centre. We will be using all comments made to date to inform the detailed design before we submit the next element of Planning (Reserved Matters).

Illustrative layout of the scheme prepared by Solihull Council, Building Design Studio