Acocks Green History Society
Proposed Conservation Area
The proposed Acocks Green Conservation Area
A new conservation area was proposed by Acocks Green History Society and the Acocks Green Focus Group, who prepared a submission with a conservation architect, a former planning inspector, and a number of local residents. The proposed boundary is shown on the map below.
The area is centred on Acocks Green railway station, which opened in 1852. The railway transformed a rural area into a prosperous commuter suburb. There were two phases of development, Victorian and Edwardian, which were influenced by the railway, and which have produced high quality and distinctive buildings and streets in Acocks Green. While much of the Victorian grandeur has been lost to flat blocks and more concentrated housing in general, that is not yet true of the best of the Edwardian heritage in Acocks Green. As well as residential streets, the area includes the local centre on Yardley Road, which includes a number of important buildings. These include the Baptist church and its church halls, the Police Station, and Edwardian shop parades.
On our homepage you can find links to histories of most of the roads in the proposed area. The Focus Group has a page which summarises some of the more evaluative assessments the conservation area group has made concerning the roads and particular buildings:
http://acocksgreenfocusgroup.org.uk/2014/02/23/acocks-greens-proposed-conservation-area/
For the City Council to agree to the designation of the conservation area, it needed to be demonstrated that the proposal had the support of a substantial majority of residents who live within the proposed boundary, and who give their views on it.
Consultation meetings were held as follows:
Monday 3rd March, 17.00 - 20.00 hrs, at Birmingham City Mission (corner of Arden road and Rookwood Road)
Saturday 8th March, 10.00 - 14.00 hrs, at Glynn Edwards Hall (Baptist church, Yardley Road)
Tuesday 11th March, 18.00 - 20.00 hrs, at Glynn Edwards Hall
After several years of attempts to persuade the City Council to approve the conservation area, the City's policies began to change, and Acocks Green's plans came to nothing. Support from the community was not sufficient in itself, and the area proposed did not in their view have sufficient merit. To say this was disappointing is an understatement, but we tried our best.