Row over controversial Black Country housing plans set to rumble on
It's the controversial housing plan that has already sparked celebrations, recriminations, petitions, campaigns and intraparty rows.
Since its publication last week the draft Black Country Plan has sent shockwaves across the region, with some questioning why so much greenbelt land has been lined up for development.
Others have breathed a sigh of relief, after sites including the Seven Cornfields and Corbett Meadow – both the subject of long-running campaigns to save them – were left out of the plan altogether.
And the West Midlands Mayor has now waded in – today announcing the launch of a review aimed at replacing greenbelt sites earmarked in the plan with old industrial land.
Under the Black Country Plan, the green belt could be carved up to make way for 7,720 houses and 47.8 hectares (118.1 acres) of land for employment purposes.
Sites under threat include two plots in Dudley's Kingswinford North and Wall Heath ward, where around 870 homes could be built.
More than 300 homes are lined up for two sites in Bushbury, Wolverhampton, and land north of Painswick Close, in Yew Tree, Great Barr, has been put forward for 120 homes.
A campaign launched to save Grapes Pool field in Bilston, which has been earmarked in the plan for 85 homes, already has nearly 1,000 supporters.
In Walsall 978 homes have been earmarked for land at Yieldsfield Farm, Stafford Road, Bloxwich; and developers are looking to build 1,426 homes on land between Queslett Road, Doe Bank Lane and Aldridge Road, in Pheasey.
Every part of the Black Country will see greenbelt land developed under the draft plan, which was put together by the four councils and will go before each authority's ruling Cabinet at a series of meetings next month.
Mike Wood, Conservative MP for Dudley South, said there was "no justification" for releasing greenbelt land at the Golden Triangle and at Holbeache – both in his constituency – for housing.
He said: "Dudley South is already contributing at least it’s fair share to the new housing that the local community needs with loads of development on old brownfield sites - places like the Marriott Road factory site in Netherton, Cookley works in Brockmoor, the old bus depot and foundry in Harts Hill and Woodside, Ketley Quarry and Ketley Brickworks at Kingswinford and Pensnett, and hundreds of new houses in and around Brierley Hill town centre.
"Together they provide brownfield sites for thousands of new homes.
"Building a further 870 properties on the Triangle and the fields at Holbeache would not only mean destroying the last two greenbelt sites in Dudley South – with irreversible harm caused to wildlife and their habitats – but would put unsustainable and unacceptable pressures on local services and infrastructure that are already stretched."
Mr Wood has urged residents to oppose the plans when the consultation opens in August.
His fellow borough MP Marco Longhi, also Conservative, said he was furious at plans to build on greenbelt land in his Dudley North constituency.
He said it was "unacceptable" that Dudley Council was planning to release parts of the green belt despite it resulting in the constituency having an "oversupply" of 1,000 homes.
Mr Longhi said: "I am appalled by the initial proposals and I will be objecting with every measure I can use.
"It is very important that residents who agree with me join in my campaign against the proposals and respond to the consultation with their views."
Stourbridge MP Suzanne Webb said it was "brilliant" that Corbett Meadow in Amblecote had been left off the plan, following a campaign by the Save the Corbett Meadow Action Group.
But she warned that while the news had come as a great relief to residents, nothing was yet "set in stone".
"This is no time to be complacent as prospective developers continue to hover," Ms Webb said. "We will be mustering support once the consultation opens and invite others to join us in the continuing fight to save the Corbett Meadow from housing development.
"The meadow was a gift to the people of Stourbridge by John Corbett and it should be managed in the public interest as he intended."
Meanwhile Labour councillors in Dudley has vowed to oppose all greenbelt development in the borough.
Group leader, Councillor Qadar Zada, accused council planners of attempting to turn areas of natural beauty into "concrete jungles".
"We oppose any building on these precious spaces," he said. "When the borough is full it is full. Why is this Conservative council imposing massive developments on local people without any consideration to the pressure on schools, doctors surgeries and roads?
"Local people do not want this and it is time the council listened to them."
Pat McFadden, the Labour MP for Wolverhampton South East, said it was a "great victory" for campaigners that the sprawling Seven Cornfields site had been left off the draft plan.
He added: "We should not have to choose between the housing the city needs and the green spaces we love."
Planners insist there is not enough brownfield land available to meet the region's housing need of 71,459 new homes by 2039, meaning some greenbelt sites will have to be developed.
The four council cabinets will vote on the Black Country Plan proposals between July 5 and 7. If approved, it will go out for an eight-week public consultation in August.
