WORRIED Wordsley and Kingswinford residents are invited to a meeting to voice their views about fears nearby Green Belt land could be developed for housing.

Dudley South MP Mike Wood has organised the meeting which will take place on Thursday February 28 from 7pm to 8.30pm at Belle Vue Primary School in Wordsley.

The meeting has been organised amid worries Ridgehill Woods and old Lawnswood estate could be turned into a new housing estate after land and property developers Clowes Developments suggested as part of the Black Country Core Strategy that the site should be released from the green belt to create an urban extension to provide new homes.

Anyone concerned about future development of the site is invited to attend the meeting which will be chaired by Mr Wood and attended by South Staffordshire Council planning officers and council leader Councillor Brian Edwards.

He said: "I have been working with Matt Rogers, Peter Miller, Nicola Richards and other Dudley councillors to make sure that South Staffordshire understand the strength of feeling among the community this side of the border.

“This public meeting gives local residents an opportunity to voice their concerns face to face with the people who will take the key decisions in South Staffordshire.

“Ridgehill and Lawnswood may be in South Staffordshire, but any development on the green belt would have a massive impact on our local environment in Wordsley and Kingswinford.

“I am very pleased the leader of South Staffordshire Council has accepted my invitation to come along and answer questions about what future plans would be considered by South Staffordshire, and to hear their passionate pleas to save our green belt."

South Staffordshire Council says no sites have yet been selected for future development as part of the current Local Plan which sets out the amount of housing and employment growth planned for the next few years.

In a document of frequently asked questions about Ridgehill Woods, the authority says: "We still need to decide how much growth is needed and where the new houses will go.

"The next stage is to consult on a preferred strategy and our members still need to discuss and agree what this will be. Until the strategy has been agreed we do not know which sites should be considered."

It adds: "We are committed to the protection of the green belt, as are all local planning authorities, and we know there are very difficult decisions to be made when we are looking for new sites for our Local Plan. 

"We will look at all non-green belt options, but depending on the locations and the scale of growth we need to plan for, it may be that some land will have to be taken out of the green belt.

"If this is the case, we will have to set out the very special reasons why this is needed and consult on them."

To find out more about the South Staffordshire Local Plan go to www.sstaffs.gov.uk/localplanreview. 

Residents in the area concerned about development of the site can also stay up to date with campaign efforts by the Friends of Ridgehill Woods on Facebook.