Object

Representation ID: 16732

Received: 07/10/2021

Respondent: Mr John Dennis

Black Country Plan, p. 608,
WOH274 WTNA, WEC Smestow Valley, Wolverhampton

I wish to register my fundamental objection to the planned inclusion of a significant part of the former WEC in the Black Country Plan for housing on the grounds that it will seriously reduce the value of an appreciable area for maintaining and enhancing biodiversity and for the wellbeing of visitors to the Smestow Valley Local Nature
Reserve, especially crucial at this juncture in the pandemic and particularly invaluable for me personally throughout the last 18 months as well into the future.
The WEC should not be designated as a mere adjunct but as an intrinsic component of the Nature Reserve; indeed, in order to access the WEC by motor vehicle - that is, if the housing programme goes ahead - traffic will have to cross the railway track currently used each day by numerous cyclists and walkers, undoubtedly a high
health and safety risk.
In conclusion the preservation of the WEC in its present configuration would meet the aims and values so admirably expounded in the Smestow Valley Nature Reserve Supplementary Management Pan produced by the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country on behalf of the City of Wolverhampton Council, 2019 (pp. 4, 93, 103, 111-120.