Last week, Larry and Gavin led a community workshop as part of Place Prospects and the great work that Emma Larkinson and Jane Murray are doing in Stirchley. The focus of the workshop was on a recently submitted planning application for an Asda superstore just behind the High Street and in particular a parcel of land between the two that is currently noted as being 'Public Realm'…? But what does this mean? Going by the planning drawings it means a bit of grass, some random planting of trees and some concrete paving (in two tones)…?
To help the local community understand the proposals, we built a model of the High Street, part of the Asda superstore and the 'Public Realm'. Understandably the local community had a lot of questions so we asked them to stick their thoughts on the model with post-its (kind of like a real Sticky World) as a basis for discussion.
The community were all in favor of this becoming an exciting new heart to the High Street – a place for the existing Stirchley Market to grow into, flea markets, antique fairs and the like. Visions of the adjacent Methodist Chapel, which is being retained, becoming a tapas and jazz bar or a microbrewery were popular suggestions (no surprise there really!).
The model was an eye-opener for all. Everyone was surprised at how large the space between the High Street and Asda store was going to be (approx. 40x60m) which prompted the question of whether this would create a hole in the High Street, a no-man's land attracting anti-social behavior?
What followed was a really interesting idea/reaction to the possibility. Rather than demolishing some of the existing buildings along the High Street to form the public realm, why not retain some of the buildings? This would help maintain the High Street's density/building line and provide some enclosure to the new public realm. The existing buildings could be made more permeable and create key views through to the public space and the new Asda.
We adapted the model to try and visualize what the effect would be. All agreed that this was a good solution. Comments and suggestions from the workshop are being sent to Asda and submitted to the local authority as part of the planning consultation, so it's literally a case of 'watch this space'!
