Solihull Council hits stumbling block with plans for new cafes, bars, restaurants and gyms in Chelmsley Wood

Chelmsley Wood centre, built in the late 1960s and early 1970s, has become rundown over the years. 

Solihull Council, which owns most of the site, wants to reinvigorate the northwest area with an aim for more leisure activities including cafes, bars, restaurants, gyms and play areas.

Artists’ impressions were released in early 2023 with a vision for how it could look.

But as the Local Democracy Reporting Service reported earlier this year council officers revealed a change in ownership of the shopping centre at the site had meant despite agreements being reached with the previous owners, they had to effectively start again with the new ones. 

And providing an update council officer Helen Bielby revealed talks with the new owners had not yet achieved a “positive solution”. 

“We haven’t got there,” she said. “But we will continue to try. Because progress has been limited on that we have taken a decision we will be moving ahead. It does give us some issues around some land ownership and some of the ambitions we were trying to do. But nevertheless we are going to move forward.” 

The officer added the authority was now set to appoint commercial agents and advisors for the project.

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During the latest meeting of the economic development, managed growth and skills scrutiny board Ian Courts, Solihull Council’s leader, said: “These are extremely complex things. Any project involving multiple owners is difficult to deal with because you can’t just sweep them away, you have got to negotiate with them. The delay is not going to be that significant. This is solid progress.”

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Councillor Kathryn Thomas asked: “What are the consequences to the masterplan of the new shopping centre owner not being on board?”

At this point, the board’s chairman Councillor Dave Pinwell intervened saying they were moving into “areas of commercial sensitivity”. 

The leader agreed saying that made it difficult for him to answer but added: “Don’t underestimate the willingness of the council to seek a good outcome with the owners. We are happy to get into discussions (with them). Don’t underestimate our determination that we are going to do something about Chelmsley Wood town centre, because we are.”

The project is being supported by funding up to £3.434million from the West Midlands Combined Authority’s investment programme.

The scheme was discussed at the board meeting held at the Civic Suite on November 13.