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The Selly Oak Restoration and Regeneration |
Next Working Party: Saturday May 5, 2012 meet 113 Scouts HQ, 10.00
February 2012 : The Trust is delighted to report that the Harvest partnership,
between Sainsbury's and Land Securities, has submitted to Birmingham
City Council Planning Committee, a substantially revised Plan for the
Regeneration of Selly Oak which now includes their Battery Park contribution to the
Lapal Canal restoration project. Their website here gives outline details.
LCT Observations :
The Lapal Canal Trust broadly welcomes and supports the February 2012 outline submission, from the Harvest partnership to BCC Planning, as a means to launch the entire Lapal restoration with a navigable channel between the existing W&B Canal and the recently rebuilt Harborne Lane Bridge. However, boaters and canal enthusiasts should be aware that the illustrations on the Harvest web site (linked above) and also on the Submission, including the ground plan, are merely "architect's impressions" without exact or excessive detail at this stage.
In particular, the proposed Lapal Canal is intended to be just a single-vessel clearance-width, straight alignment channel from the W&B canal across about two-thirds of the site when it will broaden into a wider channel, with temporary mooring, before ‘connecting’ with the Harborne Lane Bridge. It is proposed to include 5 simple opening bridges, such that pedestrian access across the narrow channel is upheld at all times, for the site to function properly as an integrated retail plaza. This is a significant compromise away from the Canal’s former alignment and usage with its Brewin stop-lock and wide kidney-shaped basin serving the former Birmingham Battery and Metal Company from which the site takes its name.
The Harvest partnership has been pleased to include this provision in its revised Plans following significant discussions with the Lapal Canal Trust, its consultant from Atkins and representatives from BW. This all stemmed from Harvest’s September 2011 proposed Plan which made no such provision and earned them a considerable reaction in the public feedback. So now, in their revised plan, Harvest intends to provide this means for narrow boats, of any length and draft, to pass from the W&B to the boundary of Selly Oak Park and then onto the Harborne Wharf as the ‘entrance’ section of the canal into Selly Oak Park (and eventually, beyond).
The Lapal Canal Trust, through its most recent working parties and its consultant Planning adviser, is currently striving towards restoration of that former wharf so that boats (of 60ft or less) can enter and wind (turn) there and return through the site to the W&B. After that, the longer-term Lapal Plan for Selly Oak Park includes a full winding hole at the west end of the entire canal section which flanks the Park’s northern perimeter.
The operating success of the proposed Battery Park channel across the Sainsbury’s site, will depend on the simplicity of the 5 bridges. Given that the gap they will span is only about 3 metres (8 ft), they can be simple structures perhaps requiring no more than a BW-key and windlass to release and operate them. A design has not yet been agreed, approved and finalised, so Harvest and the Trust remain keen to hear about bridges elsewhere that might be suitable models to copy. To remain consistent with this most modern of sites, the design may exploit modern materials and mechanisms, where appropriate.
The Trust’s Directors are aware that the proposal is not ideal, from some boater’s perspective, but believe that it will be a workable compromise which balances the Harvest requirements within the Trust’s overall strategy for the restoration of the Lapal Canal and its potential to stimulate further regeneration west-wards to Weoley Castle.
Therefore, the Lapal Canal Trust invites its members together with fellow boaters and canal enthusists generally, to support this submission.
(If previously (last September) you made contact to register your concern, you might now like to make contact again to register your support?) Click here
