Object

Representation ID: 17452

Received: 11/10/2021

Respondent: Mrs Susan Whitehouse

[redacted] I would like to object to this site being used for additional housing in Walsall. As per the design principles and justification:
This site will NOT improve local facilities. Primary schools are already oversubscribed in the area, and increase in the population of this particular area will not improve local facilities unless money is used to improve the education centres we currently have in the area. Following the last 18 months, the local health centres are not keeping up with the demand of the population and cannot facilitate timely appointments for current patients. This will not support residents as demand for services will only increase.
The transport strategy with single access to Sutton Road will not be beneficial to this area. Already traffic on this road is congested at peak times and road speed limits have been reduced from 40mph to 30mph in the last 10 years due to issues on the road. Public transport along this stretch of road is also limited at certain times (for example, Sunday evenings when local buses stop running). Adding additional residents in this area will have a major negative impact on this stretch of road. It could cause serious health risks to local residents due to the increased noise and traffic pollution from additional housing.
Drainage is a big issue in this area for residents. Local residents have had to make changes to their properties to ensure their houses are not flooded when there is heavy rainfall. In particular the area of land identified as a site suffers greatly. The cost has unlikely been considered when assessing this land as a potential area for addition housing. The sewage system also struggles in this area with myself and a neighbour having continuous problems with drainage and multiple call outs to Severn Trent.
This particular area of lad has been designated a SLINC, building on this area of land should be prohibited to preserve the natural landscape and act as a wildlife corridor between the areas of Aldridge and Walsall. Over the years we have seen numbers animals in this area of land [redacted]and an abundance of wild birds [redacted]. They all require this area of land to live. Removing this landscape will destroy the homes of all these species which are already under threat from overpopulation and the removal of green spaces. The Black Country is an extremely built up area surrounded by natural countryside that should be preserved rather than constantly put at risk with building. There are numerous disused brownfield sites around Walsall and the Black Country that should be utilised first before considering green belt land. As far as I was aware, the loss of SLINC/green belt goes against the Conservative local and combined authority manifesto pledge to protect these areas of land. [redacted]