'Stourbridge residents should be deeply concerned': ex-MP's concern about town's green belt

Plans to give greater powers to regional mayors could put renewed pressure on precious green-belt land around Stourbridge, says a former MP for the town.

Suzanne Webb said she was particularly concerned about sites around Worcester Lane, and the boundary with Hagley.

Under the plans, elected mayors will have powers to ‘call in’ major planning applications, including developments of more than 150 homes, commercial schemes exceeding 161,500 sq ft.

She also voiced concerns that West Midlands Combined Authority’s imminent spatial development strategy, which will seek to shape future development across the West Midlands, including identifying sites with potential for growth and opportunities linked to transport connections.

But a spokesman for the mayor accused Miss Webb of misrepresenting his new powers, saying he was committed to a ‘brownfield first’ redevelopment policy.

He said Mr Parker would be seeking to work with council leaders, and did not expect to intervene on a regular basis.

Mr Parker has said that protecting the environment would be a core part of the plan.

Miss Webb said that while the strategy would not by itself redraw green-belt boundaries, she was concerned that identifying growth corridors and potential development locations around well-connected sites could create future pressure on protected countryside.

"Stourbridge residents should be deeply concerned about what is emerging from the West Midlands Combined Authority,” she said.

"We are being told that the strategic development scheme will not redraw green-belt boundaries, yet the possibility of development on protected countryside has not been ruled out.

"For Stourbridge, that raises serious questions about the future of the green belt along Worcester Lane and the Hagley border, areas that residents have fought so hard to defend.

"I know these places. I know the communities who live alongside them. And, most importantly, I know just how determined local people have been to protect them.”

She said that during her time as MP, she ‘stood shoulder to shoulder’ with residents who refused to accept that green belt should be lost when brownfield alternatives existed.

"What concerns me greatly is that mayor Richard Parker will be handed substantial new powers in 2027 to intervene in major planning decisions, and he has already said that he would use these new call-in powers,” she said.

"Planning decisions should not simply be about meeting regional housing numbers or drawing growth corridors on a map.

"I am not against building homes. I have always supported a brownfield-first approach, regenerating previously developed land before considering the loss of our precious green belt.

"But the combination of a regional development strategy and greater mayoral intervention risks shifting influence away from the communities who will live with the consequences.”

"Stourbridge's green belt is not simply land on a regional planning map. It is part of our community's identity, and its future must not be decided without the people of Stourbridge having their say."

A spokesman for Mr Parker said the mayor had made his position on development clear.

“He has never used housing funds to support projects on green-belt land. The West Midlands has a brownfield-first approach and his focus is on turning derelict and unused land into the homes people need, ensuring we protect our countryside. That remains his approach.

“He has also made clear that his preference is to work with council leaders to get major housing and investment sites, that the region desperately needs, moving - so there is little or no need for mayoral intervention.

“There is a legitimate debate to have about the Government’s wider planning reforms and the Green Belt. Unfortunately, misrepresenting these powers is cheap politics, it's misleading and does nothing to advance that debate. Politics should be about how we make peoples’ lives better not intentionally agitating or worrying residents for the sole purpose of political point scoring.”