Lendlease’s 3,000-home Smithfield plan stalled again amid calls for park and square to be ‘much bigger’ | News

Lendlease’s plans for the £1.9 billion Smithfield regeneration were delayed again by Birmingham council late last week amid concerns over the developer’s proposals for green and open spaces.

Councilors and local organizations have raised objections to the size of a proposed public square and park. The Smithfield redevelopment is expected to deliver 3,000 homes in total.

A number of renowned architects are working on the plans, located next to the city’s Bull Ring shopping centre, including Stirling Prize winner Haworth Tompkins, as well as dRMM, Intervention Architecture, Minesh Patel Architects and RCKa, with James Corner Field Operations designing the public realm and landscape.

Councilor Gareth Moore said what has been proposed so far “does not comply with either the Birmingham development plan or the masterplan for Smithfield, which has always provided for a large capacity event space as part of it”.

The council officer’s report to the planning committee on Thursday 16 May stated that although the site can currently host a large festival, “there is no planning policy requirement for the square to be a minimum size or to host certain events”. .

The report added that the estimated capacity for events in Piata Conacului is “not insubstantial”, and would accommodate 6,500-7,000 people.

> Also read: England’s historic objection hits Lendlease’s £2bn Birmingham plans with a year’s delay

The council officer also noted that there had been objections to the size and location of Smithfield Park. The CityPark4Brum campaign argued that Smithfield Park “needs to be much bigger” and pointed out that the park Lendlease will deliver in Elephant and Castle is 25% bigger.

The objection highlights that the park falls under the council’s requirement that new residential developments provide approximately two hectares of new public open space per 1000 residents.

Lendlease first submitted its planning application in December 2022, but Historic England said it could not support the proposals which it said would “damage the town’s historic landscape but also disrupt significant medieval remains”.

In revised plans submitted this year, Lendlease said all the proposed buildings would be built away from an 18th-century moat and medieval walls.

However, the councilor noted that the Smithfield redevelopment is “a very dense town center proposal, therefore providing these open space requirements on this development character would make the proposal unviable as much of the site would be open space and it cannot be developed”.

A Lendlease spokesman said: “We respect the planning committee’s decision and will now work closely with officers to understand the reasons for a postponement. We look forward to featuring the app again in the near future.”