Jump to content

Longbridge

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 80.249.57.49 (talk) at 13:13, 16 February 2011 (→‎Bristol Road South Reconfiguration). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Longbridge
File:IMG 0995crop.JPG
'Longbridge island, The Factory', pictured in 2005 prior to its demolition less than two years later
Population24,865 (2001 Population Census)
• Density34.8 per ha
OS grid referenceSP015775
Metropolitan borough
Metropolitan county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townBIRMINGHAM
Postcode districtB31
Dialling code0121
PoliceWest Midlands
FireWest Midlands
AmbulanceWest Midlands
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
West Midlands

Longbridge is an area of Birmingham, England. For local government purposes it is a ward within the district of Northfield.

Since 1905, the area has been dominated by the Longbridge plant, which produced Austin, Nash Metropolitan, Morris, British Leyland, and most recently MG Rover cars. The factory became dormant, and some parts of the older sections of the site were demolished after MG Rover fell into administration in April 2005. The car company, now called MG Motors UK Ltd (owned by MG Rover's former partner Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation) have resumed full MG TF sports car production at the factory in August 2008 and later this year the Rover 75 line is to be brought back into use to produce a new car entitled the MG 6.

The area is served by Frankley Library[1].

Situation

To the immediate south-west lie the Lickey Hills, a favourite recreation spot for the people of southern Birmingham. From the south-east the railway line from Barnt Green divides Longbridge off from the Bittell Reservoirs: Longbridge railway station on the Cross-City Line stands opposite the Longbridge plant, near the Bristol Road (A38). The Austin Sports and Social Club is one of the many social clubs in the area.

Surrounding areas include Rubery, Kings Norton, Rednal and West Heath.

Development

The famous service tunnel/bridge (pictured), used to carry vehicle bodyshells across the Bristol Road, was demolished on the night of 4 August 2006. Other parts of the huge MG Rover factories on the site were demolished during that night and later in 2006 and the land to be used for future redevelopment. At the moment much of the original site still lies unused awaiting development Less than half of the original Longbridge site has been retained for carmaking.

Longbridge to Frankley Railway

Longbridge to Frankley Railway was for many years in the plans for Birmingham to be opened as a passenger route: the first section of the railway from Longbridge (new station) carried car components to the sidings near Rubery Lane. The section beyond Rubery Lane was in theory safeguarded by the planners for reopening: in 2007, the opportunity arose to help, through rail access, to regenerate the area. The railway infrastructure owner, Network Rail, although they should not have been involved, were interested and sent non-engineer representatives to meetings. Having train capacity issues to worry about and lacking the expertise to address these, Network Rail's reps opposed any thoughts of regeneration through local rail. The local MP worked hard to raise the profile of the issue and volunteers from community campaign group 'Friends of the Earth' also raised the issue in 2008 but it remains unresolved

Longbridge Technology Park

Situated where the Bristol Road meets Longbridge Lane, the Longbridge Technology Park was completed in late 2007. The buildings are meant to be 95% let, with businesses at the park including a firm supplying to Dell and IBM. It was announced after the construction that there were plans to build another 2 buildings of the same style, however once the recession kicked off these plans were temporarily shelved with a view of construction when things begin to pick up.

Cofton Centre

After the collapse of MG Rover group the old XPower building was transferred to EH Smiths Builders Merchants, PRG lighting also took over a large warehouse/factory unit and 2 other Warehouse/Factory units were constructed on the site.

Residential

2000 new homes are due to be built on various parts of the site; the first development along Lickey Lane had government approval for home start funding to construct the first of 115 homes on the site. When the coalition government took over this was one of the schemes to face the axe in the budget cuts. However, the developer found the cash to put forward to build the homes, and work commenced in late 2010

Bournville College at Longbridge

Bournville College have also taken part of the Former factory site just off the Longbridge Lane/Bristol Road, over the road from the Technology Centre. The site incorporates a gold-clad conference suite, a turquoise/blue clad sports hall and a main 6 storey gradual sloping building clad in blue going from dark to light as it nears the top. The campus will incorporate Bournville Colleges current 3 sites into one and allow for 12,000+ students, and relieving the old campus's for redevelopment. The new site is due to open for the academic year intake of September 2011. :)

Longbridge Town Centre

An outline Planning App was put forward to Birmingham City Council for the town Centre, it will include 22 new shops and restaurants with a major supermarket, (believed to be Tesco) with underground car parking.The retail will account for over 150,000 sq ft. An Austin Memorial Centre, The River Rea being bought back to the surface as a focal point in the centre, surrounded by the Bournville college campus and the new retail outlets and supermarket. Public consultation happened in the Autumn of 2010. The supermarket was earmarked to be built and up and running for late 2011, in line with the commencement of the September 2011 intake for Bournville College students at the new campus

Myplace Youth Centre

A Youth Centre will also be constructed on the land by the Austin social club and the nursery

Bristol Road South Reconfiguration

Following the announcement of Bournvilles intentions to take part of the site an outline application was drew up for new road access, it was also looked into about the re configuration of the Bristol Road South, it was found that the roundabout at the Bristol Road and lickey lane caused traffic to slow down at this point and was decided along with thee road access and other associated roadworks with the new town centre and college, that the Bristol Road South would be realigned to incorporate a smooth curve, keeping the traffic moving, this is likely to result in the demolition of the former MG Rover training and learning development centre, currently held by Bournville College as a temporary construction campus, the old Longbridge Train Station, tickets and parcels building is also likely to be lost. John Sisk & Sons were appointed contractors for the work and began on site in the summer of 2010, however the origianl Longbridge Train Station is a listed building so the plans we to be revised with a view towards keeping the existing layout.

Great Park

A major development aimed to improve the Longbridge ward was the Great Park development in Rubery[2] by Corporate Land Developments Ltd. The 200-acre (0.81 km2) site just off junction 4 on the M5 Motorway has been developed into a community with offices, houses, industrial units, Empire Cinemas, Hollywood Bowl, Premier Inn, Brewers Fayre, Morrisons, Gala Bingo, Green's Fitness and an area of public open space.

The housing developments were undertaken by Crest Nicholson, Bellway, Barratt Developments and David Wilson Homes and provided a variety of homes. This was completed in 2002. Leisure facilities provided include a cinema, bowling complex, restaurants, health and fitness centre, social and bingo club, a day nursery and a 60 bedroom hotel. An all weather pitch, funded by the developers, was also created and is in the possession of Birmingham City Council. In June 2000, a 52,000-square-foot (4,800 m2) manufacturing unit was completed for Draexlmaier Automotive UK. A further four industrial units are to be constructed to individual occupiers requirements.

In March 2007, Mark Kent was employed as Town Centre Manager to oversee the redevelopment of Longbridge as a community following the closure of the MG Rover factory. Kent's role is to implement the integration of the new factory units being constructed with the existing Longbridge town centre and suburbs. The 13 acres (53,000 m2) of land which has been freed up following the demolition of more than half of the former MG Rover factory floorspace (now owned by SAIC) has been allocated for a new town centre for the once bustling and soon to be redeveloped area.

As a result of the development 1,500 jobs have been created at a total cost of over £400 million. C:

Politics

Richard Burden (Labour) is the area's Member of Parliament, and the councillors elected to represent the ward of Longbridge are Ken Wood, Keith Barton and Sue Barton, all Conservatives. Longbridge has adopted a Ward Support Officer currently held by Bob Barr.

Population

The 2001 Population Census recorded that there were 30,964 people living in Longbridge with a population density of 3,789 people per km² compared with 3,649 people per km² for Birmingham. Longbridge has a small ethnic minority population: only 6.8% (2,117) of the ward's population consists of ethnic minorities, unlike more centralised areas such as Aston, Handsworth and Small Heath.

See also

Longbridge plant

References

  1. ^ "Frankley Library". Birmingham City Council.
  2. ^ "Schemes for site studied".
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Longbridge&oldid=414239505"