Object

Draft Black Country Plan

Representation ID: 15507

Received: 11/10/2021

Respondent: Mrs Valerie Buttery

Representation Summary:

Green Belt land off Sandyfields Road, Sedgley and land off High Arcal/Brick Kiln Lane (North of Himley Road) Sedgley (promotional document by OBA Estates)
If houses are built on this Green Belt area it will impact on a variety of aspects of everyday life for residents who already live in the vicinity.
Increased numbers of vehicles meaning increased pollution, noise levels in areas where road traffic congestion is already high. Public transport as it stands, cannot support an increase in demand.
Sandyfields Road and The Straits/Straits Road will bear the brunt of this extra traffic. Local roads around Gornal and Sedgley will be considerably exacerbated by an increase in housing stock which, in total, will be in the hundreds if the proposals to change the above sites from Green Belt are made. Local schools will not have spaces enough for the greatly increased number of families moving into the area. Local services such as GP surgeries and, more widely, Hospitals, the Fire Service and Ambulance Service will face a great increase in usage. Can they all cope?
Brownfield sites should be found and used for regeneration before any thought is given to reclassifying Green Belt land. True, this may cause more work for builders, ie decontamination etc. and of course it is easier to build on acres of empty green space, but this should not be a reason to do so.
With climate change and environmental worries, much consideration should be given to local flora and fauna eg [redacted] on all the above sites. While woodland cover may be increasing, the wildlife within it is decreasing says the Woodland Trust. If we don't tackle the threats facing our woods and trees and habitat within, we will severely damage the UK's ability to address the climate and nature crises. Ancient woodlands continue to be lost and damaged by house building, new roads and railways, and a consequence of this could be an increased flood risk.
The above synopsis on the specifically named areas above can also be applied to other sites within the Dudley Borough such as the Seven Cornfields, Sedgley, Land at Swindon Road and Holbeache Lane, Kingswinford north.