Residents keen to see improvements to Kingshurst Parade

LONG WAIT: Kingshurst Parade is set to be redeveloped
as part of the North Solihull Regeneration

RESIDENTS in Kingshurst are becoming frustrated by the long wait for news about the proposals to give the Parade a much-needed facelift, a local councillor has said.
The shopping area is set to be redeveloped as part of the ongoing Regeneration programme.
It is now three years since Solihull Council acquired the former Mountford pub; a deal which, along with the subsequent acquisition of the GP surgery, was seen as giving the local authority more options as it prepared a “masterplan” for a new village centre.
However, the lack of updates about how the scheme is developing has worried some local people, who argue that the increasingly dilapidated precinct needs urgent attention.
One of the council’s own documents, dating from 2014, described the shopping area as “busy but run down.”
Councillor Debbie Evans (UKIP, Kingshurst & Fordbridge) said that the subject had become “the elephant in the room” as far as the Regeneration was concerned.
“I know it’s a thorny issue and I know it’s down to finance but I as a ward member need to offer people assurance that this is definitely going to go ahead.
“They are all looking at Chelmund’s Cross, they are all looking at Smith’s Wood and saying ‘there’s all this money going there, when’s Kingshurst going to come to the party?’.”
The redevelopment of the Parade is listed as one of the main priorities in the latest report on
the progress of the Regeneration, which went across to councillors recently.
The business plan covers the period up until March 2020, although an exact date for the start of the project  has yet to be confirmed.
Coun Bob Sleigh, leader of Solihull Council, said that updates on the progress of the work would be made available to ward members on request.