Motorway service Areas
Motorway Service Area (MSA) Plans unanimously dismissed.
Motorway Service Area (MSA) planning applications for J4 of M42 off Gate lane, Dorridge and a new junction between J5 and J6 of the M42 between Catherine de Barnes and Hampton in Arden, were considered together by SMBC on 24th February 2021.
Both plans were dismissed unanimously by the 9 planning officers because these plans went against Solihull’s recently approved Local Plan.
Plans for the MSA were first submitted to SMBC in 2015 but held off. The Secretary of State for Transport recognised a need for MSA at intervals of 30 miles between each, as a means of combatting driver tiredness and so perceived a need for a MSA between J3a and J7 of the M42.
To summarise the council’s objections in brief:
The Gate Lane/J4 proposal of 12 hectares would have significantly reduced the already narrow expanse of Green belt at a point where it is at its narrowest. It would significantly increase the increase congestion on the already pressurised Stratford Road and also adversely affect air quality just one mile from Dorridge and Bentley Heath.
The much larger 62-hectare plan between J5 and J6 would have destroyed an ancient woodland and added to the urban sprawl which started in the early 1980s with the building of the M42 on Green belt land. This was quickly added to by the Birmingham Airport extension, NEC and its later extension, the railway station and now HS2. One disgruntled councillor stated that what appeared to be planned was a concreting over of the land between south east Birmingham and Coventry!
West Midland Mayor Andy Street called for the plans to be thrown out and this was supported by ex-MP Dame Caroline Spelman and current Meriden MP Saqib Bhatti.
It is important to keep the above points in mind as new plans will inevitably be submitted in the future.
Motorway Service Area (MSA) planning applications for J4 of M42 off Gate lane, Dorridge and a new junction between J5 and J6 of the M42 between Catherine de Barnes and Hampton in Arden, were considered together by SMBC on 24th February 2021.
Both plans were dismissed unanimously by the 9 planning officers because these plans went against Solihull’s recently approved Local Plan.
Plans for the MSA were first submitted to SMBC in 2015 but held off. The Secretary of State for Transport recognised a need for MSA at intervals of 30 miles between each, as a means of combatting driver tiredness and so perceived a need for a MSA between J3a and J7 of the M42.
To summarise the council’s objections in brief:
The Gate Lane/J4 proposal of 12 hectares would have significantly reduced the already narrow expanse of Green belt at a point where it is at its narrowest. It would significantly increase the increase congestion on the already pressurised Stratford Road and also adversely affect air quality just one mile from Dorridge and Bentley Heath.
The much larger 62-hectare plan between J5 and J6 would have destroyed an ancient woodland and added to the urban sprawl which started in the early 1980s with the building of the M42 on Green belt land. This was quickly added to by the Birmingham Airport extension, NEC and its later extension, the railway station and now HS2. One disgruntled councillor stated that what appeared to be planned was a concreting over of the land between south east Birmingham and Coventry!
West Midland Mayor Andy Street called for the plans to be thrown out and this was supported by ex-MP Dame Caroline Spelman and current Meriden MP Saqib Bhatti.
It is important to keep the above points in mind as new plans will inevitably be submitted in the future.