V.D.S. - 5 Settlement Parish Council
As the introductory quotations show, development took place amid farms and countryside and alongside existing roads. The Earl of Plymouth and other landowners sold large plots for housing. The Earl insisted on one house per 4 acres. This resulted in pockets of housing, generally widely separated from one another, surrounded by large gardens and with trees and hedges as boundaries, usually of native species. This also left copses, fields, paths and open gaps between developments. As a result the residential areas feel an integral part of the countryside -open, uncluttered, green. This pattern of development also means that there is direct access to the countryside, with many miles of footpaths linking residential areas, the Lickey Hills, farmland and special wildlife sites.
	Figure 9 -Extensive footpath network adjacent to housing -such rustic fencing and stiles are dotted about the parish. It would be preferable that there was no development along footpaths, especially next to green belt land.
While house numbers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were increasing, The Birmingham Association for the Preservation of Open Spaces was acquiring the Lickey Hills and later donated them to Birmingham City Council -to remain a 'green lung' for city dwellers. Other conservation-minded groups hold land in the parish -such as the National Trust, Bournville Village Trust and Worcestershire Wildlife Trust. Again this has created the rural character of the parish that is so special. Blackwell is a distinct village, settled on the shoulder of the ridge on which Lickey forms the highest point. Blackwell grew as a result of the railway and station and has few amenities. It has a First School, post office, two churches, and a social club. Former private, large houses house special schools for Birmingham City Council, and a training centre for The Children's Society. Green belt fields, the railway line and the M42 keep the village separate from Lickey and Barnt Green.
	Lickey sits on top of the biggest of the hills and is built around the Old Birmingham Road, which was an old coaching road between Birmingham and Bristol. In some respects it is considered part of Barnt Green but ecclesiastically it is linked with Blackwell, and it is the church boundary that is the basis of the parish..Lickey is protected from pressure from Birmingham, and Bromsgrove by the Lickey Hills and land kept in trust as previously described. Lickey too, has few amenities of its own. It has a church, school, petrol station and post office. Again, older houses are put to other institutional uses. There are three main access points to the Country Park -Monument Lane, Wauen Lane and Rose Hill. Marlbrook lies at the south west edge of the parish, adjacent to Catshill parish. It is a more modern development but still has open land nearby.
Figure 10 -Linthurst First School is Victorian and the number ofpupils has risen due to the increase in housing.
Housing density is variable. There are some houses scattered about in the green belt but they cannot be seen generally. Residential areas such as Greenhill, Station Road, St. Catherine's Road, Linthurst Road, Mearse Lane, Plymouth Road, Twatling Road have a low number of houses to the acre. Other parts have a higher number (Old Birmingham Road, Monument Lane) while Marlbrook and parts of Linthurst Newtown have a higher density. Figure 11 -Twatling Road where large, distinctive houses are hidden by trees and hedges.
	The roads in the area are mostly country lanes. Although it has a long history, Old Birmingham Road is wider and straighter than most in the parish. Generally the roads are narrow, winding, unkerbed and tree or hedge lined. Often there is a ditch or bank. Footways are few and where they do exist, are narrow and only along one side of the road. All this adds to the country feel to the parish.
Figure 12- Greenhill is an old tree-lined lane with houses where there were once farms. Horse riders use these narrow lanes for their leisure activities.
There are few commercial activities in the parish and in the main are unobtrusive. There are some interesting historical monuments in the parish. The Obelisk, the Water Trough and the Bromsgrove Guild designed War Memorial are all at Lickey. Blackwell's parish boundary is the famous Lickey Incline. Barrow and Geraldine Cadbury had strong links with Blackwell, living in Rosemary Cottage and Cropwood, before finally donating both them and surrounding land to Birmingham City Council for educational purposes. Lord Austin is buried at Lickey.
	Figure 13 -Typical unkerbed road edge -to be retained and copied wherever possible. Note the bank.
	Figure 14 -Lickey War Memorial and Horse Trough reflect our local history and its connections with the Earls of Plymouth. They sit at the top of Old Birmingham Road with Junction 1 of the M42 only a short distance away.
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Last Updated 27/06/2005