Builders in Balsall Common

Balsall Common sits in the Meriden Gap, the stretch of countryside holding Solihull and Coventry apart. Its postcodes are CV7 and its post town is Coventry, but the planning authority for every address in the village is Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council. That distinction matters from the first quote onwards, because the rules governing a rear extension inside the village are not the rules governing one at Fen End or Balsall Street.

Very little here is old. The area was heathland of little significance until the 19th century, ribbon development linked up the scattered village in the 1930s, and the bulk of Balsall Common is postwar — the major expansion beginning with approvals in 1957 at Sunnyside Lane, Kenilworth Road and Station Road. What followed was 1950s and 60s semis and bungalows, 1970s link-detached houses with carports, and later estates at Elysian Gardens, Harper Fields and Albany Meadows. Two things about that stock shape the work we get asked for. Bungalows are a genuine presence rather than an occasional one, and a large share of houses have an attached or integral garage. Against that, parking is tight in places — several estates are served by garage blocks with limited off-road parking.