SOLIHULL MP OPPOSES CPO FOR SHIRLEY PARK LAND AT PUBLIC ENQUIRY

7.32.05am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 20th May 2008

Lorely Burt MP will today speak at the public enquiry being held in the Civic Suite, Solihull to consider proposed compulsory purchase orders for land at Shirley Park.

Mrs Burt will speak against the proposals.

The text of her submission is attached below:

You will have received thorough submissions from my councillor colleagues, Cllrs Allen and Hodgson, so I am able to keep my remarks brief and address the main outline arguments as to why these 3 Orders should not be granted.

If the CPO is not granted, I would submit there will not be a necessity to move the footpath. So the arguments I apply to the CPO can also apply to the footpath.

I want to stress there is overwhelming opposition within the community to the Heart of Shirley scheme and therefore the CPO mainly because of the resultant loss of our precious open space.

The Liberal Democrats in Shirley, and myself as the local MP, are very close to the people we serve. We hold all but one of the 9 councillor seats and we know what our constituents think about the proposed Heart of Shirley development.

Shirley is a true community. It has a strong community ethos and a loyalty to the area which is palpable.

Shirley people, and ourselves as their elected representatives, want the regeneration of Shirley centre.

The Shirley Advance proposition is that a vast anchor store will facilitate that regeneration, and the Stratford Road shops will thrive because of all the new people coming in to use the ASDA who will do their shopping and then spill out to do 'other' shopping.

The local community have three main objections to this. Firstly, there are already seven supermarkets in Shirley, and nothing on the scale of the proposed ASDA. They feel that there is no need - and they do not desire - another supermarket of superstore proportions.

Secondly, they, and their elected liberal democrat representatives, fear that the superstore will spell the death knell for the small shops down the Stratford Road.

Instead of sucking people ONTO the Stratford Road, people will park underground in ASDA, fulfil all their shopping requirements there, and then go away: the only visible trace of their presence being the vastly increased congestion that will come to an already very congested area.

So Madam Inspector, the people, and we, fear that the life-blood will be sucked OUT of Shirley, the small shops will get LESS trade, and the whole area, instead of being regenerated, will go down.

Councillor Allen has included the only independent report on the proposed Heart of Shirley, the Localise West Midlands report, which confirms this view, and criticises the so-called 'consultation' by Shirley Advance.

Indeed, Madam Inspector, I attended their consultation, and I have to commend them for doing an excellent selling job on local residents. But even given this, only 17.3% of respondents were definitely in favour of the development, while 27.9 were against and 54.8 undecided.

A non-political organisation, though it's intent is very evident in its title of Keep Shirley Alive, incensed with the Shirley Advance methods, conducted a local referendum of their own.

They asked whether local people wanted another large supermarket in Shirley. Only 13.3% answered yes and 86.7% 'no'.

Madam Inspector, you might consider this result to be a self-fulfilling prophesy, but it accurately mirrors a survey of Shirley shoppers the Liberal Democrats conducted on the Stratford Road in 2004. I am not able to produce this survey today, Madam Inspector: it's lost in the annals of the Burt filing system. But I mention it because I recall how similar the results were, at 84% being against another supermarket.

And even when we politicians aren't asking about the Heart of Shirley, people talk about their fears unprompted and unbidden. Shop keepers, residents on the doorstep - STILL ask me what I can do to stop what they fear is impending disaster for Shirley.

The THIRD objection of local residents, and by far not the least, relates most closely to the CPO under discussion today, and that is the loss of parkland, which includes a 350 year old oak with its circle of saplings.

You will see from Councillor Allen's evidence that Solihull Council have changed maps relating to the Oak Circle to exclude it from Shirley Park; however it does of course retain its designation of public open space.

The area has been neglected and allowed to deteriorate by the council. Local councillors and residents have themselves tidied the area up.

The cynic might say this follows a pattern we have seen before when over 6 Hectares of parkland at Tudor Grange were sold off for development by Solihull Council in 2005.

The area was re-designated as public open space, and described by Conservative councillors as a worthless 'bog'.

Madam Inspector, I frankly don't think it matters how the land is designated. What matters is the value put upon it by those who appreciate and enjoy it today.

God isn't making any more real estate, and in an area which has the lowest amount of accessible green space anywhere in Solihull, the long-suffering residents of Shirley are forced to lose green space and an oak tree which is over 15 human generations old.

Compared to that oak, WE are only on this earth for a very brief time. WE feel we have a responsibility to care for the earth we inherit and not to use our fleeting moment on this planet to destroy living things which, unmolested, would still be here long after we are gone.

Despite so-called 'ground testing' by Shirley Advance perilously close to the tree, it survives. And if we had a more modest and proportionate anchor store, it could STILL survive for future generations of Shirley people.

Madam Inspector, Shirley people don't want to lose their parkland because of the money-making aspirations of others.

And you might want to consider who stands to gain from all this.

• You might be tempted to wonder why no other supermarkets were invited to tender for the anchor store.

• You might wonder why almost nothing comes back to the people of Shirley for the sale of their parkland - except for a few improvements to the park which remains.

Yes, it isn't the people of Shirley who will gain, except insofar as there WILL, hopefully, be new shop units and a paved area outside the superstore.

What effect this will have on the shops further down the Stratford Road, however, is another question. With a linear style of the main street, it's very possible the centre of gravity will shift and shops at the Morrisons end will lose even more trade.

The people of Shirley, and all their elected representatives bar one whom I cannot speak for, do not want to lose their parkland and the benefits of the money which accrues to local retail companies, 80% of which filters back into the local community.

We want a good, proportionate retail mix, NOT uber-domination of our centre by a disproportionately large superstore whose avowed desire is to sell everything to everyone, with no concern that the effect of this will probably be that small businesses on Stratford Road will be bled dry.

Madam Inspector, YOU are our last hope. Please reject all 3 Orders you are considering.

Lorely Burt MP

Solihull