Blythe Valley Park is a district of the town of Solihull in the West Midlands conurbation. It is adjacent to Junction 4 of the M42 motorway, on the A34 Stratford Road between the Monkspath district of Solihull, and the villages of Hockley Heath and Illshaw Heath. The district comprises a business park, mini village and nature reserve.
The area was agricultural land administered by Sydenhale Farm, (named after the locally prominent Sydenhale family of Tanworth in Arden) [1] until the late 1990s. After the death of the last landowner in 1984, the land was purchased by Solihull Council [2] in preparation for development. Prior to this the land had been part of Hockley Heath parish, itself historically part of the parish of Tanworth-in-Arden.
The first phase of the project began in 1999 and is now completed. The project is composed of two principal elements; a public park along the valley of the River Blythe and a business park. Because of the location of the site and its proximity to the motorway network and Birmingham Airport it was deemed prime land for office development. The development consists of large office blocks set in parkland, enjoying public footpaths and water fountains. The most apparent element of the development is the Blythe Bridge over the M42, which stands out amongst the functionalist motorway architecture. Junction 4 of the M42 was remodelled and altered to allow for direct access from the motorway.
The land around the business park has also seen further commercial development. On the other side of the A34 road next to the Blythe Valley Business Park is its sister site, the Fore Business Park. [3] [4]
In 2014 proposals were submitted for an eco-friendly service station on land opposite Blythe Valley at junction 4 of the M42. The proposal was ultimately rejected due to concerns of congestion, and the recent approval for construction of around 1000 homes on Blythe Valley Park. [5]
In 2020 construction began on a new 'mini village', including approval for 750 new properties. [6] The first 100 homes were completed in 2021 and benefit from an electric pool car for short journeys, electric car charging points and cycle storage for up to 40 bikes. The new neighborhood also has an independent coffee house and a nursery. The homes are surrounded by 122 acres of parkland, and were built adjacent to a Virgin Active health club and spa. The residents have excellent road connections to the nearby settlements of Illshaw Heath, Hockley Heath and Monkspath. [7] [8] [9]
There are further plans to build a 'community hub', which will have a pre-school, convenience store, shops and an additional 48 apartments. There are also plans for an 80 bed elderly care home facility. [10]
The business park lies adjacent to a large protected nature reserve. [11]
The A41 is a trunk road between London and Liverpool, England. Now in parts replaced by motorways, it passes through or near Watford, Kings Langley, Hemel Hempstead, Aylesbury, Bicester, Solihull, Birmingham, West Bromwich, Wolverhampton, Newport, Whitchurch, Chester and Ellesmere Port.
The M40 motorway links London, Oxford, and Birmingham in England, a distance of approximately 89 miles (143 km).
The A34 is a major road in England. It runs from the A33 and M3 at Winchester in Hampshire, to the A6 and A6042 in Salford, close to Manchester City Centre. It forms a large part of the major trunk route from Southampton, via Oxford, to Birmingham, The Potteries and Manchester. For most of its length, it forms part of the former Winchester–Preston Trunk Road. Improvements to the section of road forming the Newbury Bypass around Newbury were the scene of significant direct action environmental protests in the 1990s. It is 151 miles (243 km) long.
The River Blythe flows through the English Midlands from central Warwickshire, through the Borough of Solihull and on to Coleshill in north Warwickshire. It runs along the Meriden Gap in the Midlands Plateau, is fed by the River Cole and is a tributary of the River Tame beside the West Midland Bird Club's Ladywalk reserve. This then joins the River Trent, whose waters reach the North Sea via the Humber Estuary.
The M42 motorway runs north east from Bromsgrove in Worcestershire to just south west of Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire, passing Redditch, Solihull, the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) and Tamworth on the way, serving the east of the Birmingham metropolitan area. The section between the M40 and junction 4 of the M6 forms – though unsigned as such – a part of Euroroute E05. Northwards beyond junction 11, the route is continued as the A42; the junctions on this section, 12–14, are numbered like a continuation of the motorway, but the road has non-motorway status from here.
Knowle is a large village situated 3 miles (5 km) east-southeast of the town of Solihull, West Midlands, England. Knowle lies within the Arden area of the historic county boundaries of Warwickshire, and since 1974 it has been part of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull within the West Midlands. It lies 2.5 miles from the Warwickshire border and had a recorded population of 10,678.
The Metropolitan Borough of Solihull is a metropolitan borough in West Midlands county, England. It is named after its largest town, Solihull, from which Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council is based. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of seven boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region. Much of the large residential population in the north of the borough centres on the communities of Castle Bromwich, Kingshurst, Marston Green and Smith's Wood as well as the towns of Chelmsley Wood and Fordbridge. In the south are the towns of Shirley and Solihull, as well as the large villages of Knowle, Dorridge, Meriden and Balsall Common.
Shirley is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, in the West Midlands, England. Historically part of Warwickshire, neighbouring districts include Shirley Heath, Sharmans Cross, Solihull Lodge, Monkspath, Cheswick Green, Cranmore and the Hall Green district of Birmingham.
The Warwickshire ring is a connected series of canals forming a circuit around the West Midlands area of England. The ring is formed from the Coventry Canal, the Oxford Canal, the Grand Union Canal, the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal and the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal. It is a popular route with tourists due to its circular route and mixture of urban and rural landscapes.
Dorridge is a large village in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the West Midlands (county), England. Historically part of the historic county of Warwickshire, the village is encompassed within the electoral ward of Dorridge and Hockley Heath, which had a population of 11,140 in the 2011 census.
Hockley Heath is a village and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, West Midlands, England. The village is to the south of the West Midlands conurbation, 12 miles (19 km) southeast of Birmingham 5.5 miles (8.9 km) from Solihull town centre and 13 miles (21 km) north of Stratford-upon-Avon. Hockley Heath is in the Arden area and borders Warwickshire and the District of Stratford-on-Avon to the south, with some parts of the village on either side of the border. It incorporates the hamlet of Nuthurst, and has a history dating back to the year 705 AD as a wood owned by Worcester Cathedral. The 2011 Census gives the population of Hockley Heath civil parish as 2,038.
Cheswick Green is a village and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the English county of West Midlands, incorporating the nearby hamlet of Illshaw Heath. The settlement lies approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) south west of Solihull town centre. The civil parish population as taken at the 2011 census was 2,197. It borders Dickens Heath and Monkspath to the north, and Earlswood and Warings Green to the south. The northernmost part of Warings Green lies in the parish of Cheswick Green.
Dickens Heath is a large modern village and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the English county of West Midlands incorporating the much older hamlet of Whitlocks End. It was previously part of the civil parish of Hockley Heath, and borders Cheswick Green and Tidbury Green in Solihull, as well as Hollywood in Worcestershire.
Tanworth-in-Arden is a village and civil parish in the county of Warwickshire, England. It is 12.5 miles (20 km) south-southeast of Birmingham, 5.5 miles (9 km) north-east of Redditch and 8 miles south-southwest of Solihull and is administered by Stratford-on-Avon District Council. Situated in the far west of the county and close to the Worcestershire border, the civil parish is larger than the village, and includes Tanworth-in-Arden itself plus the nearby settlements of Earlswood, Wood End, Forshaw Heath, Aspley Heath and Danzey Green. The population of the parish was 3,228 at the 2021 UK census.
Solihull is a market town and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, in the West Midlands, England. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe in the Forest of Arden area. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census, and its wider borough had a population of 216,240. The town is located 8 miles (12 km) southeast of Birmingham and 13 miles (21 km) west of Coventry.
Monkspath is a large residential community and light-industrial area of Solihull, West Midlands, England, southeast of the town's Shirley district. Monkspath is in the Blythe ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull.
Earlswood is a small village in Warwickshire, England in the Tanworth-in-Arden Civil parish of the Stratford-on-Avon District. However, the northernmost part of the village lies within Tidbury Green parish in the Solihull Metropolitan Borough of the West Midlands. A hamlet called Warings Green also lies in the south east of the village, with the northernmost point crossing into the parish of Cheswick Green in the borough of`Solihull. The village's postal code, B94, is in the Birmingham postcode area. It is in the ecclesiastical parish of St Patrick, Salter Street. The village is surrounded by farmland and forests and it gives its name to Earlswood Lakes as well as to Earlswood railway station, even though The Lakes railway station is located closer to the main part of the village.
Elmdon Heath is an area of Solihull, West Midlands, United Kingdom. It lies within the historic county of Warwickshire. It is located to the north of the town centre, at a distance of approximately one mile. It is primarily residential, though there are a few shops, a garage, a community centre a secondary school, a primary school and a church centre.
Longdon is a district of Solihull, in the West Midlands, England. Located in the east of the town, it was historically a distinct settlement that pre-dated the planted borough of Solihull, but is now mostly contiguous with Solihull town center.
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