Object

Representation ID: 11233

Received: 12/09/2021

Respondent: Mrs Sarah Lawson

I am writing to object to the development of parts of our Green Belt, in particular sites
referred to as Holbeach and The Triangle. I have lived in the Kingswinford and
Wordsley area since 2004 and am a regular user of the Green Belt adjacent to where
I live. This is a valuable, much used and much loved part of the local area, especially
during the recent pandemic when people found much solace in escaping to the green
areas near our homes for leisure and escapism.
To my knowledge both sites are currently used for agriculture, where a range of crops
can be grown. We should continue to protect this land and use the soil in a
sustainable way. Significant loss of countryside will no doubt impact on wildlife in the
local area; we have , owls, foxes, hedgehogs and moles locally as well as a
plethora of other species. As well as loss of important habitats such as hedgerows
and significant tree species. This will be devastating to those of us who enjoy nature
and enjoy that it is so close and easy to access. My young family and I often go for
walks and bike rides in these areas to enjoy the peace and tranquility that they offer -
an escape from the rapid pace of life. We indeed moved to the road we are in now
due to its proximity to the countryside.
Additionally, as a local resident, especially to The Triangle, which is a 4 minute walk
from my home, I am concerned about the impact of additional homes and families will
have on the local roads and services. Roads in the Kingswinford area are already
especially busy, particularly during peak flow times in rush hour and school pick
up/drop off times. Roads such as Cot Lane and Stream Road are bumper to bumper
with traffic; it is regularly a long wait to pass through the traffic lights by the Harvester
Pub at the junction of Cot Lane and Lodge Lane. The A449 also has an extremely
large volume of traffic throughout the day; I would not support a future plan to expand
or widen this road in order to support your plans for housing on the Green Belt land.
With more residents to the area would only bring more traffic congestion, more noise
and a reduction in air quality. We already suffer from a large number of
cars/motorbikes using Lodge Lane as a race track - which has caused a fatal accident
in recent years.
Additionally more local residents would put increasing pressure on our local services
such as schools, doctors and Russell’s Hall hospital. These are already
oversubscribed and overused services. Summerhill School is over subscribed; with
an active waiting list. The nearby Kingswinford and Crestwood schools are also full to
capacity. Crestwood School and Wordsley school recently upped their PAN number in
order to accommodate the growing number of school age children in the local area; I
am not sure where you propose further families to the area would send their children?
The local doctors surgeries continue to struggle with provision after the Covid
lockdowns meaning that people are continuing to wait to be seen or speak to a GP. I
myself used the out of hours provision this weekend at Russell’s Hall hospital and had
to wait for 3 hours to be seen by a doctor in order to get medication. Without
significant improvements to our local education and healthcare providers I cannot see
how they would be able to cater for more families; they would be a drain to an already
failing system.
There has been no real investment in the area in terms of leisure and recreation other
than an improvement to Cot Lane park lead and funded by a local action group. This
means there is little to do in the area for children and young people. In recent years
we have seen an increase in anti-social behaviour including drug dealing on Cot Lane
park, evidence of drug and alcohol use on Cot Lane park and Wordsley park as well
as more general anti-social behaviour in the alley way behind Summercourt
Square/Summercourt Drive close to the Triangle site. Young people have set fire to
part of the Ridge woods and have left much litter and mess there after lockdown meet
ups. I am very concerned about the impact of bringing more families and young
people to the area and only see these issues becoming more of a problem.
In the Black Country we have much in the way of brownfield sites, some of which
have already been developed. This means these areas are improved and become
more desirable. I believe that continued investment should be made in developing
brownfield sites as a priority over the development of green belt land. This would not
only provide the housing stock the Black Country needs but would also be an
investment in the local area as run down and derelict ex-industrial sites would be
improved. I am a geography teacher at a local secondary school and regularly
discuss with classes the importance of sustainable development and land
management.
I hope you see sense and listen to the objections I know friends, neighbours and local
residents will make against this particular part of your Black Country Action Plan