Expansion in the village: Do you agree?

We know know that it can be a pain trying to get from Wythall to, well, anywhere on public transport.

If by some miracle the train or bus actually stops where you want to go it takes an age to actually get there or the service ends up cancelled. 

Although the village is only 10 miles south of Birmingham city centre, it doesn’t reap the benefits of a typical commuter village.  

Also with the case of Wythall train station, if you did want to get a train from there you'll have to either walk or get a a very kind person to drop you there. Not the most practical way to travel. 

We also only have the option of hourly services from Wythall so if you miss your train or its cancelled you're a bit stuck. 

With the proposed expansion of Wythall and other towns close by, the train service available to us would need to be updated. 

To improve railway services in the village, Shakespeare Line Promotion Group have set up a proposal. 

They have stated "Our representation arises from the results of a comprehensive online survey that was carried out with users of the Stratford upon Avon >< Birmingham railway line last March (2018). 

In recognising that Wythall wants a ’turn up and go’ (30 minute interval) train service we also recognised that such an improved level of service will increase demand for rail travel from the station. 

Whitlocks End car park, nearby but with within Solihull MBC's area, is already woefully oversubscribed and it is the most used unstaffed station in the West Midlands. 

We have sought to suggest that car parking at Wythall should be provided but there are two potential options and we do not have a preference as they both have advantages and disadvantages when compared to one another.

The matter is for the local community to determine, it has to consider the potential loss of green fields and the gaining of a facility to provide better and more sustainable transport connectivity or significant housing development with no additional infrastructure to mitigate the effects from a larger population that will require access to and from employment, retail and leisure."

However local resident and daily user of the service, Rachel Keen 19, is not convinced 

“I think [the expansion] is helpful and not. 

Ideally I’d want more regular trains going through Wythall because they’re only hourly, if they could add in a car park somewhere around there, I know that would be a pain because there's literally just surrounded by houses, but even just a car park there would be helpful.

But that's going to bring in more people because there's a bigger station. There's already enough people here trying to get the train. 

If it brings in more and more people it's kind of pointless because then you’ve got an overpopulation of people on the trains at rush hour when they’re already busy."

It's a difficult one. Do you want an expansion on the train station if it means building on our fields? 

Let us know what you think in the comments below.

And a special thank you for the Shakespeare Line Promotion Group for speaking to us.