Object

Representation ID: 14292

Received: 04/10/2021

Respondent: Mr Geoff Hurd

I wish to add my voice to the many people objecting to proposals to build luxury homes on the ex-Wolverhampton Environment Centre, set in the centre of the Smestow Valley Nature Reserve. It seems inconceivable that Wolverhampton should lose this precious green space in a city which has, by comparison with neighbouring towns, limited access to countryside but a plentiful supply of brownfield land for development. Throughout the pandemic we have walked almost daily through the ex-WEC land, along the adjacent Railway Walk and through the Smestow Valley Nature Reserve. Why would planners want to deprive the thousands of people who use this invaluable resource of their access to nature and all the physical and mental health benefits such access brings? In recent years Compton Park has been built on but a drive around Wolverhampton will reveal derelict buildings and land unused. Surely imaginative and creative planning can find alternatives to the limited green space for development and, hopefully, find more imaginative building designs than the typical developments that surround the City? Andy Street, West Midlands Mayor, has labelled green field development like this as unnecessary when there is a surfeit of brownfield sites available. Please take his advice and leave the ex-WEC land to the citizens who value it and use it.