Object

Representation ID: 13149

Received: 11/10/2021

Respondent: Miss Joyce Williams

JOYCE WILLIAMS, [Redacted-GDPR]
Black Country Draft Plan
Site References WAH237 and WAH253
The number of households for the two sites will put much extra pressure on local health and education provision. Aldridge is popular for retirement apartments with older •people and such developments in recent years are bound to have caused extra workload on local GP practices.
it has long been accepted that countryside should be kept between Stonnall and Aldridge. Once large scale development is allowed between existing housing and Chester Road the precedent is set to allow development up to Chester Road.
Access for so many houses on to Stonnall Road is a matter of great concern. Stonnall Road (which leads into Birch Lane) narrows as it gets nearer Chester Road. There is a blind bend with no footpath. The road is narrow and the banks have a sheer drop so there is nowhere for pedestrians to get out of the way of vehiclés. Horses are ridden along Stonnall Road and many cyclists use the road often in groups. Nearer to Walsall Wood Road there is a residentiali care home. Druids Heath golf club also has an entrance on Stonnall'Road and has a lot of traffic which uses Stonnall Road. The road is also busy because it is used as a rat run for Stonnall village. In addition once traffic has negotiated the narrow part of Stonnall Road and reached the part of the road with a normal width there is a tendency for traffic to sped over the brow of the hill just by the care-home and golf club.
I heard one suggestion at the public meeting at the Compass suites in Aldridge that the frontage of the proposed housing site could be used to widen the road. The extra traffic would then be funnelled onto a narrow road near Stonnall and onto an ordinary road near the Walsall Wood Road end. The Chester Road junction is already a dangerous junction at busy times and extra traffic from hundreds of homes would add to the danger.
I know the Government has given local authorities targets for housing developments but they are also told to protect the Green Belt. There are too many problems with this site to allow the Green Belt to be easily sacrificed.
I went to the meeting at the Compass Suites, Aldridge because a neighbour told people about it. I hadn't seen any publicity for the proposa!s. The meeting wasn't well attended when I went in the afternoon. The planning officers were helpful but it seemed a last minute attempt to consult. Large plans showing possible sites for development were just put on tables rather than being displayed on the walls or 'easels'. This meant people had to queue to see them instead of a few at a time looking at the plan and hearing what the p!anning officer said.
For the above reasons I Wish to register an objection to both proposed housing developments in Stonnall Road.