SLP KDBH Extracts - Flipbook - Page 47
on the Climate Change Prospectus; transport and movement strategy and plans; and current
market advice and economic performance of the town centre.
121.
The Masterplan has helped shape the proposals of the town centre policy. The centre is
contained within clearly defined boundaries, the Chiltern railway and Prince’s Way to the
south-west, Blossomfield Road, Lode Lane to the north-west, Warwick Road to the north,
New Road and Churchill Road to the east.
122.
Near the centre, to the west, is Solihull railway station and to the south and east Tudor
Grange and Malvern Parks respectively. The High street is an important principal pedestrian
route through the centre providing pedestrian links to the modern Touchwood shopping mall
on the south side and to the older Mell Square precinct to the North. It also links the Poplar
Road bus interchange area in the direction of the railway station with St Alphege Church and
the attractive historic core along the High Street.
123.
The Town Centre is an appropriate location for a broad range of town centre uses including
retail, leisure and entertainment facilities, appropriate sport and recreation uses, offices, arts,
culture and tourism and residential. It is important that opportunities for development improve
the centre, adding to vitality and vibrancy and to diversify the centre beyond traditional retail
uses, whilst retaining or enhancing important characteristics.
124.
High quality urban design will therefore be expected to ensure that development will protect
the character of the Centre’s historic heritage, improve public realm and improve pedestrian
movement around the centre, for example, to improve links to the Centre’s parks and provide
improved articulation between Touchwood and nearby open spaces and improve the
pedestrian link between Mell Square and the Warwick Road Morrison’s store which has poor
public realm. Design principles that developers will be expected to follow are identified in the
policy.
125.
The timing of development will maintain a balance of activity throughout the centre over the
Plan period and to ensure continued success either side of the High Street and to fit with
provision of new infrastructure, including public transport improvements and traffic
management measures. The area to the south of the High Street has been the focus of
activity in more recent times, with the development of Touchwood, Waitrose store and the
recently opened Aldi store. However parts of the Centre are becoming outdated in
appearance and would benefit from new development to modernise it and increase its
attraction as a destination.
126.
The Illustrative Town Centre Masterplan highlights a number of opportunity sites where
development has the potential to come forward within the period of the local plan and
beyond. The sites represent the opportunity to improve the attractiveness of the Centre as a
place of quality and distinction reflecting strong urban design principles.
127.
The 2016 Masterplan was used to inform the Draft Local Plan (2016) which indicated that
new development in the town centre could deliver:
Up to 11,700 sq m of commercial and leisure development
Up to 74,620 sq m of new office development
1,400 new homes in the town centre, with potential for over 100 additional homes on
land near the train station.
128.
The Draft Local Plan then went on to identify which of the 1,500 new homes could
reasonably be expected to be delivered in the plan period, and by identifying particular
opportunity sites concluded that 861 homes would be deliverable in the plan period,
129.
The emerging masterplan revision is expected to include a schedule of updated opportunity
sites which will be informed by a market review carried out in 2016 by Cushman and
47
47