The death of Highfield House

Mar 17 2008 Submitted by John Worthy

AS expected the death warrant on Highfield House was signed by the decision of the Planning Committee on Thursday 13th March 2008 to approve the plan to redevelop the site upon which this old house stands.

Though four members of the committee refused to support the application and suggested it was morally wrong to approve the application, when the engines of the bulldozers burst into life they will bring the 137 year history of the house to a conclusion that has befell nearly all of the residential buildings of character in Hall Green.

It is a significant portent of progress in this suburb that the only buildings considered worth saving are either Public Houses or Churches as a cursory glance through the list of protected buildings in Hall Green will confirm.

Most suburbs tend to be 'dormitories'  which are ancillary to any large city's needs but Hall Green is fast becoming a place where no one visits except when on the way to somewhere far more vibrant and interesting.

Apart from a few houses in the backwater of Paradise Lane this is a place where you worship or drink. The churches are empty for almost all of the time and the public houses can only watch as revenues diminish yet they appear to be the only buildings considered worth saving for future generations.

Hall Green is rapidly descending into the void of suburban uniformity bestowed by apathy.

Where is the Ridgeway that connected Norton Manor with Yardley Manor? What Happened to the moated house in Highfield Road? Where are the fine houses that the movers and shapers of a nearby city built and manipulated our industry from?

They all fell prey to the sacrificial rite we call progress whilst myopically wiping the blood of the last victim off the cold stone of the altar. All that is left is the nuclear cellular family of the treadmill mortgage insulated in houses that are clones of the house next door.

Character bought a one way ticket to somewhere more interesting and will not be coming back any time soon.