Longbridge | Former MG Rover Site | Mixed-Use | U/C

[Phillwop]

Yup

[ReissOmari]

So the problem with Longbridge is because its called a 'town'??

If it was called Longbridge Retail Park would people be moaning about the architecture and the car park? Didn't think so.

Get over it.

[sefton66]

there's critics on here and whilst I agree things could have been planned better it's proving popular with higher sales than expected for both sainsburys and M&S and the restaurants so people are clearing voting with their feet

[Spread]

Originally Posted by ReissOmari

So the problem with Longbridge is because its called a 'town'??

If it was called Longbridge Retail Park would people be moaning about the architecture and the car park? Didn't think so.

Get over it.

I couldn't agree more, it is also worth noting that it was planned as a more modest retail park, M&S was somewhat of a windfall resulting in an impromptu replan to accommodate them

[sefton66]

Let not forget it's never been planned to be a high street/ town centre as such


The first ever "plans" rumoured were for a 24/7 tesco extra and huge IKEA

[sefton66]

Not the best pics but apartments

[ellbrown]

Got some photos today, but will upload them tomorrow.

M & S etc. Blue skys, sunshine. Lots of new roads and paths. Even steps up to another level!

[ellbrown]

River Rea - Austin Park - Saturday afternoon sunshine!



Celebz

[ellbrown]

Marks & Spencer



In yesterdays brilliant sunshine!







Pay & Display if parking longer than 3 hours here.



Poundland, Mountain Warehouse and Boots



These units are vacant currently



Steps



A look down

[ellbrown]

The views from Cooper Way (Saturday afternoon sunshine)



5 Shops ->



5 trees





No Parking



More of M & S, but further back.






Panoramic including Bournville College, phase 1 and 2 of the town centre



From Austin Park

[Red Ape]

I wish all towns & cities would take on Parking up to 3 hours is free.

[trundlewagon]

Originally Posted by Red Ape

I wish all towns & cities would take on Parking up to 3 hours is free.

It works in out of town retail parks (The Fort, Longbridge, your nearest super-hyper-monstromart, etc) as they are built for it - you drive straight into a massive car park, no messing about. Its completely impractical for town centres, they aren't designed for it. With the exception of maybe a few New Towns, it would cause traffic chaos every weekend (it gets pretty hellish as it is even with silly prices), hence all the effort to get people to use the train or peasant wagon to visit them.

Whether it's still free when Longbridge is a huge, sprawling metropolis remains to be seen.

[Red Ape]

Originally Posted by trundlewagon

It works in out of town retail parks (The Fort, Longbridge, your nearest super-hyper-monstromart, etc) as they are built for it - you drive straight into a massive car park, no messing about. Its completely impractical for town centres, they aren't designed for it. With the exception of maybe a few New Towns, it would cause traffic chaos every weekend (it gets pretty hellish as it is even with silly prices), hence all the effort to get people to use the train or peasant wagon to visit them.

Whether it's still free when Longbridge is a huge, sprawling metropolis remains to be seen.

Maybe some towns, but I guess the likes of Dudley & West Bromwich would be OK for free parking. Both have very large car parks & a multi storey in West Bromwich which I think never been used yet?
As for the like of bus fares, I was talking to someone last week who gets a private hire car from Bloxwich to Walsall because he claimed it was the same cost & dropped him right outside where he wanted to go. So no walking to & from Bus stops either.

[Tony Bear]

As predicted. Engineering jobs replaced with part time supermarket shelf stackers result in headlines like this: http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news...ry-low-8686011

But hey.. Unemployment is down right?!

Disgusting. The council and developers should have worked harder to ensure more of this site offered skilled employment and ultimately hope for young kids growing up nearby. The fact the whole development is an ugly out of town supermarket park just adds to the insult.

They should have ****ed the town centre idea off and just gone for business park, at least then there would be chance of more skilled work with a future brighter than stacking shelves and sweeping aisles.

The College was just moved from one area to another so we've not really gained much there overall.

[sefton66]

I think sainsburys and M&S pay living wage or above, the town centre has created hundreds possibly thousands of much needed jobs

Longbridge have been marketing business park and warehouse style space to develop, if the companies were there and wanted to move they only had to sign a pre let... The developer can't win, if they hadn't built the town centre they'd get moaned at for not doing anything, they create jobs and get moaned at for not supplying the right jobs? They're a developer not an engineering company looking to employ people?


Also the college didn't just move, they now offer more student spaces, more courses and have better facilities and equipment as a result, they also freed up their site for a care village which will also employ in the hundreds


The MG ROVER site is massive, the town centre forms a tiny part of the site in comparison

[ReissOmari]

Originally Posted by Tony Bear

As predicted. Engineering jobs replaced with part time supermarket shelf stackers result in headlines like this: http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news...ry-low-8686011

But hey.. Unemployment is down right?!

Disgusting. The council and developers should have worked harder to ensure more of this site offered skilled employment and ultimately hope for young kids growing up nearby. The fact the whole development is an ugly out of town supermarket park just adds to the insult.

They should have ****ed the town centre idea off and just gone for business park, at least then there would be chance of more skilled work with a future brighter than stacking shelves and sweeping aisles.

The College was just moved from one area to another so we've not really gained much there overall.

Nope, Tony Bear, better off they should have just left it as flat land, with nothing at all, that would have been better than the hundreds of jobs that were created regardless of wages.

Give Longbridge a break!!!

[sefton66]

Also the article states northfield, does that actually include Longbridge or not?

[ReissOmari]

Depends if the article meant Ward or Constituency, Longbridge and Northfield are different wards, but Longbridge falls under Northfield Constituency

[Tony Bear]

Originally Posted by sefton66

I think sainsburys and M&S pay living wage or above, the town centre has created hundreds possibly thousands of much needed jobs

Longbridge have been marketing business park and warehouse style space to develop, if the companies were there and wanted to move they only had to sign a pre let... The developer can't win, if they hadn't built the town centre they'd get moaned at for not doing anything, they create jobs and get moaned at for not supplying the right jobs? They're a developer not an engineering company looking to employ people?


Also the college didn't just move, they now offer more student spaces, more courses and have better facilities and equipment as a result, they also freed up their site for a care village which will also employ in the hundreds


The MG ROVER site is massive, the town centre forms a tiny part of the site in comparison

It's not a town centre. It's a supermarket park offering unskilled minimum part time wages mostly. Try buying a house and raising a family on that kind of employment.

It's down to councils to work hard to bring the right kind of employers into the area and to liaise with the developer to try and mix it up. Retirement homes and supermarkets were not what many would have envisaged.

The college may offer more spaces but it was still moved en mass so it's hardly new to the city. Again, care villages, most probably employing workers on basic wages (unfortunately).

The article I posted is proof enough of the problems now facing this part of Birmingham. Northfield is next to Longbridge. Many people used to be employed at the car works.

[Tony Bear]

Originally Posted by ReissOmari

Nope, Tony Bear, better off they should have just left it as flat land, with nothing at all, that would have been better than the hundreds of jobs that were created regardless of wages.

Give Longbridge a break!!!

Nope Reiss, better off they should have had a mix of employment and strived to entice more companies which offer skilled opportunities and training positions with careers which kids could have aspired to, thus giving them a better chance in life to buy their own house, travel the world, save for later life rather than knock up the very worst in modern architectire to house supermarkets and dozens of the cheapest ugly houses just to make a fast buck then **** off leaving South Birmingham with more social problems and low quality housing stock which locals won't afford any way.