Planning application for Meteor Ford site is now in

The planning application for the Meteor Ford site on the corner of St.Marys Row and Oxford Road, Moseley has now been submitted. The application and its drawings can be seen at http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateContent?CONTENT_ITEM_ID=67548&CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=0&MENU_ID=12189 . 

This link goes to a Planning Department page that requests the planning application number. The planning application number for the Meteor Ford site application is  S/06141/08/FUL. Once the details of the application come up, go to ‘related documents’ – these shows the drawings of the planning application.

The planning application involves demolition of the entire site and the creation of a three storey building.

The ground floor will consist of a Tesco supermarket. The first floor will consisted of 19 units of ‘sheltered’ accommadation for elderly people. The entire second floor will consist of a medical centre. To the rear of the site will be 103 parking spaces.

The design of the exterior is in the style of 19^th century vernacular revival, similar to that used in the western end of Oxford Road.

The inclusion of a modern medical centre is the culmination of three years worth of work between the owner, the Council’s Planning Officers, the Primary Care Trust and Councillor Mullaney. This partnership work was initiated by Councillor Mullaney following a meeting he had in 2005 with the Primary Care Trust to identify the health needs of Moseley and Kings Heath. Prior to this, the previous owners of the Meteor Ford site had sought to build a supermarket on the site with residential accomadation above – both times refused by the Council.

I haven’t been involved in the actual design of this scheme and I do feel there are plus and minuses to this scheme. On the positive side, we gain a desparately needed modern health facility – the surgery across the road is overcrowded and in need of expansion. The medical centres in the rest of Moseley are very much out of date. This facility is also in the middle of an area with severe health needs – the sheltered elderly people accomadation off Wake Green Road and Oxford Road and the areas of high economic poverty in north Moseley. The minus side is that the new building is much larger than the original Meteor Ford buildings. The views of local residents are therefore crucial on this scheme.

Residents can comment on the planning application by either e-mailing Planning on planning@birmingham.gov.uk or writing to them at Planning Management, Birmingham City Council, PO Box 28, Alpha Tower, Suffolk Street Queensway, BirminghamB1 1TU