Huge turnout for Black Country Plan meeting in Kingswinford

A group objection form gathered nearly 600 signatures, well on the way to the groups target of 3,000 to initiate a council debate.

The meeting saw MP for Dudley South, Mike Wood; leader of Dudley Council, Patrick Harley; local councillors, Shaz Saleem and Ed Lawrence; deputy leader of Dudley Labour, Judy Foster and two council planning officers urging people to comment on the plan.

The two main sites of concern amongst residents are situated upon greenbelt land with 533 homes planned for land at Swindon Road, Wall Heath and 330 homes planned for land south of Holbeache Lane, Kingswinford.

Steve Cutler, member of Wall Heath As One who organised the meeting at Dudley Kingswinford Rugby Club said the developments would alter the community forever.

“There is a fundamental problem with developing on greenbelt land, once it’s gone its gone – there is no going back,” said Mr Cutler.

A panel of councillors, officers and MP Mike Wood stand behind Steve Culler, member of Wall Heath As One who chaired the meeting.

“We are convinced there is still brownfield sites available to use instead.

“These developments will alter our community forever. I have lived in Wall Heath for 44 years and cannot believe the scale of the proposals.

“But, they are part of a statutory housing plan for 2039, that councils are obliged to complete but they decided on a policy, A37 in the Black Country Plan to develop Kingswinford as a neighbourhood growth area and this should have been decided democratically by this area long before it got to this stage.”

Many residents felt the council had targeted Kingswinford and Wall Heath for development as several brownfield sites have also been listed for regeneration.

Patrick Harley, leader of Dudley Council said:” The burden is too great on Dudley South, but its up to all of us to prove that road infrastructure will not be able to cope.

“The biggest objection you have in your area is highways. Developers can offer to build schools and GPs but rarely will they offer to buy new highways as its too expensive – use that to your advantage.

Carl Mellor, planning manager at Dudley Council assured the public that greenbelt sites were put forward as a last option.

“We have put forward all but five brown field sites in Dudley and we are reviewing those sites.

“After this consultation we can end speculative development that has been going on for years.

“Dudley’s shortfall of housing is smaller than our neighbouring authorities but we are in a joint plan.”

The consultation process of the Black Country Plan has been heavily criticised as the public have branded the website as inaccessible as it is not compatible with mobile phones.

A resident in the crowd felt the council had not done enough to promote the consultation process and only found out about the consultation exercise from a Facebook group.

Mr Mellor added: “We have various drop-in sessions, leaflets, posters, library sessions and we are trying to get the information out there. We are not trying to hide anything.”

The consultation to provide comments about the Black Country Plan is open until October 11 and can be accessed via blackcountryplan.dudley.gov.uk/t2/p6/