Birmingham City Council has unveiled bright new plans to transform an empty Great Barr office block into a new place of Sikh worship.
Applicant Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara aims to being a new Sikh temple to Aldridge Road. In total, eleven committee members approved the plans for the grand new temple, with councillor Martin Straker Welds stating that the repurpose would be “filling a need” in the as of yet disused space.
Councillor Bob Beauchamp also concurred, adding “it’s not the prettiest of buildings and it has been vacant for some time.”
Though the temple is still in its initial design stages, concern has been raised over potential parking and traffic issues. Cllr Beauchamp added that Aldridge Road is known for frequent accidents. “There’s a slight waviness to the road,” he explained, “and it is used as a run in and out of the city.
“There is a need to reduce parking on the street so we need to know about parking enforcements.”
Although it is possible to park on nearby grass verges, the council are trying to limit this as much as possible. The area support officer stated an “element of thought [had] gone into parking” and estimated that there would be 87 car parking spaces in total.
It has been estimated that up to 50, possibly more, people would be attending the Gurdwara on the weekdays between 4am and 9pm, and that they could be travelling to worship from as far as Sutton Coldfield, Great Barr, Perry Barr, Erdington, Tyburn, Stockland Green, Kingstanding, Oscott, Witton, Walmley, Pipe Hayes and Perry Common.
