The site should not be developed, objections to the redevelopment of the site.
The site is allocated for development in the current Development Plan. Additionally, the vision for the redevelopment of the Tower Ballroom site is included within the Supplementary Planning Document “A Plan for the Sustainable Future of Edgbaston Reservoir”.
The principles of the redevelopment of the site are firmly established in policy terms.
Impact on Local Nature Reserve (LNR) and wildlife.
The majority of the Tower Ballroom site falls outside the extent of the LNR. Reservoir Lodge and a section of the site directly behind it falls within the LNR designation. These areas will remain undeveloped with additional landscaping and habitat creation.
The site abuts the LNR at the North Western and South Western boundaries with a landscape buffer provided to both boundaries. A detailed landscape and ecology management plan will be developed with proposed mitigation to include a detailed lighting scheme to protect the protected species and the inclusions of bird and bat boxes.
Impact on local infrastructure and services.
Improvements or funding towards local infrastructure and services will be requested through the formal planning process and will be secured under a legal agreement.
Design concerns over density of development (too many homes) and height of building.
The principles of the redevelopment of the site are firmly established as proposed in the adopted Supplementary Planning Document. The design proposals accord with the SPD in terms of siting of buildings, height and density. All of the new homes are designed to comply with the Nationally Described Space Standards.
Scepticism of “affordable” housing.
The proposal is for a 100% affordable scheme with the majority of the new homes being provided as Social Rent alongside a smaller number of Shared Ownership homes. Affordable Homes are defined as high quality homes at costs significantly below those typically found on the open market. Further details are contained elsewhere in this website.
Development should provide for community infrastructure such as toilets, café and seating.
The proposal includes for a commercial unit to support an active and welcoming frontage facing the reservoir and to facilitate the provision of new local services to the community. The development proposal includes a toilet located within the commercial unit. Seating is also proposed within the landscape buffer between the development and the reservoir edge.
Provision to be made for cycle/mobility storage and EV charging.
Secure cycle storage will be included for the apartments within the building with storage available for the houses within secure rear gardens. All houses will be provided with an EV charging point along with a proportion of the remaining spaces.
Clearer, better and earlier communication for future events.
We are committed to better future communication. We have emailed two updates since the original consultation event and have since developed this website to provide future detail of our proposals and looking to hold further consultation events.
A query has been raised regarding restrictive covenants.
We have carried out full legal due diligence and can confirm that there are no matters that would impact upon our proposals.
Clarity sought on who will be responsible for future maintenance of the public realm and the open space areas.
We can confirm that, following completion of the development, Birmingham City Council will remain responsible for the public realm between the new development and reservoir edge in addition to the LNR area behind Reservoir Lodge. The remainder of the site including the highways will be managed and maintained by Midland Heart.
Clarification requested on parking provision.
Each house benefits from one designated parking space. In addition there are 25 parking space for visitors and residents of the apartments. This is in excess of the original masterplan proposal put forward by the Council.
Request for copies of environmental impact assessment to be made available.
All reports in support of the planning application will be publicly accessible online via the Council’s planning portal in due course. These can be commented during the planning consultation period.
The development will deliver a biodiversity net gain of 10% as required by government policy. Our landscape and ecology consultants are working closely together to ensure that this is delivered on site as far as practicable. Any shortfall will be delivered via a local habitat bank.
Are you intending to retain the mature Beech trees behind Reservoir Lodge and how are you going to protect the roots during construction?
The large Beech trees are within the LNR area and are proposed to be retained within our development proposal. The roots will be protecting in accordance BS5837:2012 (Trees in Relation to Design, Demolition and Construction). Some trees are proposed to be removed to facilitate development and their loss will be mitigated through delivering the biodiversity net gain.
