SMETHWICK TO BIRMINGHAM CORRIDOR FRAMEWORK DOCUMENT DRAFT JUNE 2021 SMETHWICK TO BIRMINGHAM CORRIDOR FRAMEWORK DOCUMENT DRAFT JUNE 2021 SMETHWICK TO BIRMINGHAM CORRIDOR FRAMEWORK DOCUMENT FRAMEWORK DOCUMENT SMETHWICK TO BIRMINGHAM CORRIDOR 1 SMETHWICK TO BIRMINGHAM CORRIDOR THE DELIVERY PARTNERS CONTENTS Sandwell Council is leading on the preparation of the development framework and the Grove Lane masterplan in collaboration with the other partners. The council is the largest Black Country authority and is pursuing an ambitious and proactive inclusive growth agenda. 1 Introduction page 4 Birmingham City Council is leading of the preparation of the development framework in collaboration with the other partners. 2 Purpose of the framework page 8 Birmingham is the largest local authority in Europe and has an extensive track record of delivering large-scale urban renewal. 3 Context page 12 West Midlands Combined Authority is the combined authority for the West Midlands. The authority works collaboratively to deliver on its priorities including housing and regeneration, productivity and skills, economy and environment. WMCA is working with partners 4 Vision and guiding principles page 44 on the redevelopment of the area around the new Midland Metropolitan University Hospital. Transport for West Midlands co-ordinates investment to improve the region’s transport infrastructure and create a fully integrated, safe and secure network. 5 Smethwick Galton Bridge to Rolfe Street page 50 Homes England is the government’s housing accelerator. It is focussed on making possible the new homes England needs, helping to Grove Lane area page 66 improve neighbourhoods and grow communities. Homes England is working with Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust 6 to bring forward the redevelopment of the City Hospital. 7 Grove Lane to City Hospital page 78 Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust operates City Hospital and its new hospital, the Midland Metropolitan 8 Transport strategy page 86 Sandwell and West Birmingham University Hospital, is under construction. The Trust is also leading on the development of the Midland Met Learning Campus which will NHS Trust provide education and skills opportunities for the local population focused on accessing careers in the health and related sectors. The project has been allocated funding from the Towns Fund and is a collaboration between Sandwell College, Aston University, University 9 Other corridor projects page 98 of Wolverhampton and Sandwell Council. The Trust is the largest employer in the corridor and is committed to improving the lives of local people, maintaining an outstanding reputation for teaching and education, and to embedding innovation and research. 10 The future corridor page 106 Canal and River Trust is the charity that looks after and brings life to 2,000 miles of waterways in England and Wales, including the Contact/Image copyrights page 112 Birmingham Main Line Canal within the corridor. The Trust is working to transform canals into spaces where local people want to spend time and feel better. 2 SMETHWICK TO BIRMINGHAM CORRIDOR FRAMEWORK DOCUMENT FRAMEWORK DOCUMENT SMETHWICK TO BIRMINGHAM CORRIDOR 3 INTRODUCTION 1 INTRODUCTION 4 SMETHWICK TO BIRMINGHAM CORRIDOR FRAMEWORK DOCUMENT FRAMEWORK DOCUMENT SMETHWICK TO BIRMINGHAM CORRIDOR 5 1 INTRODUCTION The Smethwick to Birmingham corridor is This framework sets out our plan for doing that. Birmingham and Sandwell’s historic canal district, It creates a vision for the area’s future which will stretching from The Roundhouse just west of guide and coordinate future public and private Brindleyplace to Galton Bridge in Smethwick. investment. It sets a plan that is transformative, It is the historic link between Birmingham and realistic and deliverable. the Black Country and a cradle of the industrial The corridor..is the historic link between ‘ revolution. A historic, diverse and industrious area. This framework is prepared jointly by Sandwell ‘Birmingham‘ and the Black Country and‘ a Council and Birmingham City Council in close Today the corridor is one of the most significant collaboration with Homes England, The West cradle of the industrial revolution areas of brownfield urban renewal in Europe, with Midlands Combined Authority, Sandwell and West potential to deliver X,XXX new homes. Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust and the Canal and River Trust. Change is already happening with new neighbourhoods under construction at Port Loop What happens next? and Soho Loop and the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital nearing completion. We want We are seeking opinions on this draft framework to continue those changes and ensure they from [date] to [date] 2021. We will reflect on the enhance the area for existing and future residents. comments we receive and use them to produce a final version in autumn 2021. 6 SMETHWICK TO BIRMINGHAM CORRIDOR FRAMEWORK DOCUMENT FRAMEWORK DOCUMENT SMETHWICK TO BIRMINGHAM CORRIDOR 7 PURPOSE OF THE FRAMEWORK 2 PURPOSE OF THE FRAMEWORK 8 SMETHWICK TO BIRMINGHAM CORRIDOR FRAMEWORK DOCUMENT FRAMEWORK DOCUMENT SMETHWICK TO BIRMINGHAM CORRIDOR 9 PURPOSE OF 2 THE FRAMEWORK This framework has the following purposes: Co-ordinating development of the major A material consideration in planning decisions. redevelopment sites to create distinctive, health- Setting urban design and development principles promoting places that enhance the area’s unique for the corridor and its main development sites. character. Identifying the infrastructure and These principles will guide detailed site design and other changes that are needed alongside those be material considerations in the determination of developments. planning applications. Providing a transport strategy for the corridor Evidence for planning policy development. which will support its sustainable development. Providing additional detail to support the councils’ Create distinctive, current development plans and identifying new ‘‘ Encouraging investment. By showcasing options to support future plan-making. health-promoting the corridor’s future and demonstrating the places that ‘ commitment of the delivery partners to making it ‘ happen, the framework is the platform for bringing Relationship to the Grove Lane masterplan enhance the area’s in private and public sector investment. The Grove Lane masterplan builds on this unique character framework to set out in more detail how the Grove Accelerating housebuilding in an important area Lane areas surrounding the Midland Metropolitan for building new homes on brownfield land in the University Hospital can be developed. West Midlands. 10 SMETHWICK TO BIRMINGHAM CORRIDOR FRAMEWORK DOCUMENT FRAMEWORK DOCUMENT SMETHWICK TO BIRMINGHAM CORRIDOR 11 CONTEXT 3 CONTEXT 12 SMETHWICK TO BIRMINGHAM CORRIDOR FRAMEWORK DOCUMENT FRAMEWORK DOCUMENT SMETHWICK TO BIRMINGHAM CORRIDOR 13 The Smethwick to CONTEXT Birmingham‘‘ corridor ‘ 3 lies centrally within‘ the West Midlands Wider context The Smethwick to Birmingham corridor lies The corridor includes two mainline rail stations at centrally within the West Midlands, the UK’s third Smethwick Galton Bridge and Smethwick Rolfe most populous urban area and one of the largest Street on the West Coast Mainline between metropolitan regions in Europe. Birmingham and Wolverhampton. The corridor runs from the edge of central The A457 through the corridor is one of the Birmingham at Ladywood, through the Winson principal arterial routes between Sandwell and Green area of Birmingham, to the town of Birmingham. Smethwick in the Borough of Sandwell and straddles major road, rail and canal routes between The corridor crosses administrative boundaries, Birmingham and the Black Country. with the western part of the corridor lying within Sandwell Council’s area and the eastern part within The Birmingham Canal Navigations Main Line Birmingham City Council’s area. canal, which runs through the corridor to the west of Brindleyplace and Gas Street basin, is at the heart of the British canal network. PLAN 1 n NORTH Wider context NOT TO SCALE 14 SMETHWICK TO BIRMINGHAM CORRIDOR FRAMEWORK DOCUMENT FRAMEWORK DOCUMENT SMETHWICK TO BIRMINGHAM CORRIDOR 15 Local context The corridor We have divided the corridor area into three separate neighbourhoods which are shows on the map below. In the west Smethwick Galton Bridge to Rolfe Street (see Chapter 5), in the centre of the corridor the Grove Lane area around the new Midland Metropolitan University Hospital (see Chapter 6), and in the east the area between Grove Lane and the City Hospital, including Dudley Road (see Chapter 7). Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 PLAN 2 n PLAN 3 n NORTH NORTH Local context NOT TO SCALE Corridor areas NOT TO SCALE 16 SMETHWICK TO BIRMINGHAM CORRIDOR FRAMEWORK DOCUMENT FRAMEWORK DOCUMENT SMETHWICK TO BIRMINGHAM CORRIDOR 17 PLAN 4 n PLAN 5 n NORTH NORTH Corridor 1880’s plan NOT TO SCALE Corridor 1940’s plan NOT TO SCALE History Until the late eighteenth century the corridor (1860) on the Cape Arm making iron goods, and Industry brought rapid population growth in the The metal products supplied by Smethwick and was built on Dudley Road, replacing the existing was a largely rural area lying on the turnpike road the Birmingham Plate Glass Works. Many other second half of the nineteenth century, although Winson Green factories, including components for madrasa. Just outside the corridor the recently between the towns of Birmingham and Dudley. factories, glassworks and iron foundries located as late as the 1890s there were still open fields