Bournbrook

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Bournbrook
View of Bournbrook High Street (B384 Bristol Road) looking north towards Edgbaston
Bournbrook Location within the West Midlands
Metropolitan borough	Birmingham
Shire county	Worcestershire
Metropolitan county	West Midlands
Region	West Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	BIRMINGHAM
Postcode district	B29
Dialling code	0121
Police	West Midlands
Fire	West Midlands
Ambulance	West Midlands
UK Parliament	Birmingham Selly Oak
List of places UK England West Midlands 52°26′49″N 1°55′40″W / 52.44685°N 1.9278°W / 52.44685; -1.9278

Bournbrook is an industrial and residential district in southwest Birmingham, England, in the ward of Bournbrook and Selly Park^[1] and the parliamentary constituency of Birmingham Selly Oak. Before 2018 it was in Selly Oak Council Ward.^[2] Prior to what is commonly termed the Greater Birmingham Act, which came into effect on 9 November 1911, the Bourn Brook watercourse was the North Eastern boundary of Worcestershire,^[3] and the area was locally governed by the King's Norton and Northfield Urban District Council.^[4]

Bournbrook was once known for its Victorian Leisure Park known as Kerby's Pools.^[5] The industry that followed the construction of the canals transformed the ancient manor of Selley. The junction of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal and the Netherton Canal via the Lapal Tunnel created a distribution centre for heavy raw materials from the Black Country.^[6] Major industries developed along both sides of the two canals. Terraced housing, for the better off working people, was constructed on the former Selly Hill, Selly Grove, and Selly Oak estates. The High Street provided retail, entertainment, and public services.

The property of Sir Henry Gough Calthorpe of Edgbaston was protected by clauses in the Canal Bill prohibiting the construction of wharves, warehouses, and other buildings along with other restrictive concessions.^[7] The Bournbrook rifle range, on the Warwickshire side of the watercourse, was opened in 1860 as the training ground for the Birmingham Rifle Corps later known as the First Volunteer Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment.^[8] Trams from Birmingham initially stopped at Selly Oak Gate, the county boundary on the turnpike road, or at the Gun Barrels Public House. Extended services ran at weekends to Kerby's Pools.^[9]

Located adjacent to the main campus of the University of Birmingham, numerous houses in the area have been converted from private housing into HMOs (Houses of Multiple Occupation) for students at the university. In response to this practice, fourteen of Selly Oak's community groups have formed a federation 'CP4SO' (Community Partnership for Selly Oak) to address the major issues that the 'Buy to Let, to convert' might be causing. The Local Action Plan, adopted in July 2001, identifies that: an area of restraint was proposed for the area between Bristol Road, Heeley Road, Raddlebarn Road, and Bournbrook Road. Within this area planning permission for further purpose built student accommodation may be refused. Planning permission is required for the conversion of dwellings for more than six people, or where people do not live as a single household. Planning approval may be refused throughout the Plan area, but particularly within the area of restraint."^[10]