Plans for a nine-room bed and breakfast with a café at The Green in Kings Norton have been refused by Birmingham City Council's planning committee for a second time, following persistent concerns over parking and highway safety in the area.
The application sought a change of use for the property, which currently houses Molly's Café on the ground floor. Proposals included internal alterations to create additional bedrooms while retaining the café. The scheme had previously been refused at a planning committee meeting last month, with members citing impacts on residential amenity for future occupiers and highways concerns.
Parking chaos and resident opposition
Birmingham Northfield MP Laurence Turner had earlier voiced worries about the possible impact on parking in the area. During last month's meeting, Cllr Duncan Ali (Green, Balsall Heath West) said the area around The Green suffers from “parking chaos quite regularly”.
At this week's meeting on Thursday, September 10, former Kings Norton North councillor Carmel Corrigan said: “Local residents, including me, are perplexed as to how the number of required parking spaces was calculated as five. Approving this application will make an already challenging situation worse.”
Cllr Ali reiterated his concerns, describing the current parking situation on The Green as an “absolute nightmare”.
Officers defend the scheme
Despite these objections, council officers had argued there were “no material considerations that would suggest refusing the application”. In a report published before the meeting, an officer said national policies state that development “should only be refused on highways grounds if the adverse impact on the transport network would be severe”.
“Given the low number of trips and vehicles associated with the proposed use, in the context of existing parking provision, it is not considered that the proposal meets this threshold of severe impact,” the officer argued.
The officer added that even if parking demand were displaced onto the street, customers would be “unlikely to be able to park dangerously” due to an existing Traffic Regulation Order in the area. A previous report noted that the proposed use would require five parking spaces, while only four were illustrated on the submitted plans.
Committee votes to refuse again
The chair of the planning committee, Cllr Martin Brooks, acknowledged that officers were not able to “sustain an argument” for the suggested grounds for refusal identified at the previous meeting. However, following a vote among councillors, the committee again voted to refuse the proposals.
The official reason for refusal stated: “The proposed use […] would provide insufficient levels of parking that would lead to an unacceptable impact on highway safety.”
Concerns over residential amenity had also been previously addressed by an officer, who wrote: “It was found that as there are only limited external changes to the rear of the property, that would not be detrimental to surrounding residential properties. There are no identifiable reasons for refusal with regards to impact upon potential future occupier.”
The officer also noted that check-in time would be from 3pm, after which parking pressure on The Green eases with the closure of daytime businesses, and check-out would be at 10am, ensuring any limited overlap in parking demand would be short-lived and manageable. This week's meeting heard that there would be no “severe highways network impact or highways safety issue caused by the level of parking proposed”.
The refusal marks the end of the current application process for the B&B, with the committee's decision standing unless an appeal is lodged by the applicant.
