'Once it's gone, it's gone forever': Hundreds join protest against homes planned for Black Country greenbelt
It was a day for residents and campaigners to come together and make their voices heard about plans to build homes on greenbelt land around their town.
Hundreds of people came to Aldridge Croft after marching through the centre of the town to protest about 15 sites on green belt land identified in Walsall Council's draft local plan and in planning applications submitted by developers.
The protestors had come from planning application sites on Bosty Lane and Stonnall Road and joined up in the middle of the Croft to hear from campaigner Christine Edwards and Aldridge Brownhills MP Wendy Morton about the importance of keeping the greenbelt and about making their voices heard.
The protest had come about after the plans were made public, with protestors saying that they were concerned that brownfield sites across the borough were not being used first and that developers were targeting inappropriate locations for housing.
Developers have described the two sites on Bosty Lane and Stonnall Road as being 'grey belt', with the protestors saying this was despite assurances being given by Sir Keir Starmer in answer to questions from Wendy Morton at Prime Minister's Question Time recently that 'grey belt' is seen as being large disused car parks and other disused land and that the Government did not want developers to plough up farmers' fields.
Christine Edwards said she had been amazed to see so many people come out to be part of the protest and spoke about the effects that losing the greenbelt areas would have on the area.
She said: "I was very pleasantly surprised to see the number of people who turned up as I was living in hope because of the feedback from people saying they were gravely concerned, so it was a wonderful experience to be part of this.
