Object

Representation ID: 13689

Received: 28/10/2021

Respondent: Miss Leanne Marlow

My household and I would like to oppose the proposed planning of ‘new housing land’ on Reedswood Park / Golf Course / surrounding areas.

We are fast running out of green areas within the Walsall Borough and this would be a direct contridiction to the Walsall Green Space Strategy.

Whilst this may be considered a ‘cheaper’ or ‘easier’ option than THE VAST amount of brown sites,
increasing deralict buildings and countless unsightly wastelands within the area which would benefit from council funding and regeneration, at what cost would this be to the natural biodiversity, the health and wellbeing of locals and the wider air and water conditions of the
Borough? This backwards thinking is fundementally going against what the Council is arguably fighting for as part of Agenda 21.

The council specifically set out to ‘work with others to acheive a safer, clearner, greener and healthier environement for everyone in Walsall now and in the future’. Despite this, these plans are a direct contradiction of almost all of the outlined key policies; creating more traffic, increasing water, land and air polution, being instrumental in the adverse impact on the environment and taking away the limited safe areas and acceciblity for local residents to use for leisure and health related pursuits in green spaces.

An Ecological Evaluation of BC Green Belt found this site to be of ‘High Ecological Value’ and The
Wildlift Trust have also issued a report to contest the plans for housing as they deem the space to be ‘a site of importance for nature conservation’. The continuation of this project would be an insult to their work, knowledge and expertise in the ecology of our local area, not to mention a disregard to the sustantial area of semi-natural habitat itself, that is home to countless birds, mamals, insects and amphibians.

The Council aim to develop a programme ‘to involve the community in nurtuting our natural habitats, wildlife and plant life’, but how will this be possible if this is taken away from us? The hipocritial discourse surrounding these two parallels shoud be enough to stop this planning in its tracks, let alone the wider public and environmental health concerns that come hand-in-hand with such Council greed. Quick fixes may benefit the affordable housing market in the short term, but a continued disregard for the local environment and residents will only cause further long-term problems and I would like to think our Council representatives, whom we trust these important issues to, are not that short sighted.