Don't ignore Walsall residents over green belt housing plan, MP urges council

The publication version of the controversial plan is set to be released this autumn, with councils set to sign off on a scheme which could see thousands of homes built on green sites across the region over the next 17 years.

Walsall South MP Valerie Vaz said she was deeply concerned that more than 5,400 homes have been earmarked for green belt land in Walsall.

The Labour MP said Walsall Council had in the past failed to listen to residents, citing the traveller transit site in Pleck as an example.

Ms Vaz said: "The Conservative-controlled Walsall Council have failed in the past to listen to the views of local residents such as on the Narrow Lane Site in Pleck, which was never allocated in the site allocation document for the GRT site.

"The council must listen to residents’ concerns, too often in planning matters, they do not."

In a submission to the council last year, Ms Vaz called for all green belt sites to be removed from the Black Country Plan, while she also submitted a 2,000-signature petition to Parliament, opposing plans for more than 500 homes at Calderfields West next to the Arboretum.

Ms Vaz has also questioned comments from Walsall Council leader Mike Bird, accusing him of a "denial of responsibility" by claiming that only landowners can remove sites from the plan.

Mr Bird has maintained that "only a landowner can withdraw a site". He has questioned whether Government housing targets for the area are accurate and insists the council will stick to its "brownfield first" policy.