Plans in crisis at Longbridge
BIRMINGHAM’S planning chief has warned that work on the £700 million regeneration of Longbridge will grind to a halt after landowners St Modwen won a shock legal victory against the city council.
A government planning inspector has ruled that the firm behind redevelopment of the huge 300-acre former MG Rover site does not have to pay a special tariff towards the construction of roads, parks and public transport facilities.
City Planning Committee chairman Peter Douglas Osborn admitted that Longbridge, which is less than half built, is now “in serious difficulties”.
He said the council could not afford “the many millions of pounds” that it would cost to deliver roads, leisure and community buildings, and an upgraded Longbridge railway station with park and ride facilities.
Only very small pockets of building work would be able to take place over the next few years putting at risk the wholesale regeneration of the area, he claimed.
A furious Coun Douglas Osborn hit out at a decision by planning inspector Andrew Jeyes.
Mr Jeyes upheld an appeal by St Modwen and agreed that the firm did not have to pay a £145,000 infrastructure tariff to the council for an empty office building on the Longbridge Technology Park.
St Modwen argued that it could not afford to make payments in the current economic climate, and that if it was forced to do so, the office building would be unprofitable.
Coun Douglas Osborn (Con, Weoley) said the decision amounted to a “paper victory” for St Modwen and he believed the company would be forced to back down in order to make progress on the Longbridge site.
He said the firm’s shareholders would not understand St Modwen’s stance. He added: “The whole scheme is blighted unless the developer, who ultimately can pocket all the profit, contributes.
“It may be that a smart-Alec local lawyer can bamboozle an Inspector from Bristol, but to resort to this claim is something that I deplore.
“It will sour relations for some considerable time.”
Mike Murray, senior development surveyor, for St Modwen, said the appeal decision meant it could now “provide certainty for potential occupiers and move closer to delivering on our aim of creating 10,000 new job opportunities at Longbridge.”
