Object

Representation ID: 17787

Received: 01/10/2021

Respondent: Maria Sealey

10131/ SA-0022-WAL
HOME FARM, SANDHILLS, WALSALL W OOD, WS9 9DJ
85.05 HECTARES
I wish to wholeheartedly object to the above-mentioned site proposals.
I would like to make several points:
(1) Lack of information given to local residents & home owners
We purchased our home on [redacted - sensitive information] and prior to completing contracts, I contacted Walsall Council Planning Department as our surveys had picked up that the site had been mentioned on the Urban Development Plan at that time.
I was advised by the Planning Department that the idea that the landowners submitted had been removed from the latest version of the UDP which was going through the approval process with the planning team. They had mapped the land to continue to be greenbelt area with no development and made particular note to the fact that the landowners had tried to get planning twice previously but both times it was rejected by Walsall Council & the Planning Department.
At no point, in the [redacted - sensitive information] years since then, have we been notified, advised or pre-warned of another idea of development for Home Farm, Sandhills. This is despite our road being mentioned in the Gallagher Estates surveys and documents found on the Black Country Plan website.
It is only on 30th September 2021, with just eleven days to go until the consultation period ends on 11th October 2021, that somebody has hand delivered a copy of your comments form and a Black Country Plan document regarding the Draft Plan Consultation.
It is abhorrently wrong that local residents are expected to discover potential development sites by themselves without being notified well in advance and being given the opportunity to be involved and prepare their objections where appropriate.
I appreciate that Black Country Plan have put leaflets in local libraries and have advertised on the back of buses, however, the advert on the back of the bus does not do anything to alert people that they need to be on the ball checking the proposed plans for their area and the leaflets in the libraries also do not alert anyone either. I also saw a short video that was posted on Sandwell Councils Facebook page; however, you should not be assuming that local people follow all of the borough council's social media channels. None of these methods are a fool proof way of ensuring that local people know what is going on, you should have contacted everyone in writing months ago.
The Black Country Plan have incorrectly assumed that people are out and about, looking at the back of buses and using public libraries. I can assure you they are not. Not only do people work full time and use online resources for reading, but you have elderly residents who are less mobile, suffering with ill health and may also not be internet savvy.
You have completely failed to give local residents sufficient time to prepare their responses to the draft plan.
(2) Affect on views from our home (and all of the other homes that surround it) & the risk to views only being categorised as "Moderate"
I strongly feel that the impact upon the views from our property, should the site be developed, would be catastrophic.
The category for risk to views should absolutely be increased to SEVERE!
Having reviewed the Gallagher Estates files that are on the BCP website, I wish to firstly refer to their report, namely: Gallagher Estates 2 - Tech Comp -- Home Farm Sandhills - Landscape and Context
Within this report, specifically section "2.5 Views and Visual Receptors" you will find various descriptions of the land with photographs that have been included in the report in an attempt to address the issue of property views being affected by the development.
I would like to object to this report on the basis that it is disproportionate and does not provide an unbiased evaluation.
In the below photograph you will see, taken from the report, the points (marked in yellow circles) where the photographs were taken. [redacted - sensitive information] sits approximately where I have placed the big blue arrow.
To provide an impartial and unbiased evaluation of how views would be affected, photographs should have been taken at the rear of properties and not from various outer points of the proposed site. In fact, had you of asked to visit our home we would have gladly allowed you to take photographs from our garden to get a real and true representation of how we would be affected.
[See fig.2.1 in attachement]
The next photograph, also taken from the Gallagher Estates report, shows how [redacted - sensitive information] has been assessed on the report and you will notice that the photograph taken is right over the other side of the site and therefore is disproportionate and does not give a true representation of the risk to our views:
[See attachment]
Now I will show you photographs [redacted - sensitive information]. This will give the Black Country Plan, Walsall Council, Gallagher Estates and whoever else needs to review this objection the TRUE affect that building 1200 houses plus amenities on Home Farm would have on our home.
[See attachment, some images have been redacted - sensitive information]
(3) Risk to local wildlife
The next point that I would like to raise is that development of the site would have a dramatic, and absolutely heart-breaking, affect on the local wildlife.
Whilst living here we have experienced a huge array of species, including but not limited to, [species redacted] to name but a few. There is a home a few doors away on the Chester Road which also backs onto the site which regularly has [species redacted] in their garden, also a protected species.
At night you can hear [redacted] are flying around our gardens and we have been lucky enough to capture many stunning photographs of our wild friends visiting our garden.
Nothing that anyone can say, or any report can state, will convince us that developing Home Farm would not have a dramatic effect on the wildlife and nature. It doesn't matter how many small provisions are made when developing sites (i.e bat boxes, hedgehog tunnels), it does not make up for the devastation it would cause. Below you will find just a snippet of the many photographs I have taken [redacted - sensitive information]. This is not something that happens every now and again, it is a daily occurrence.
[See attachment]
(4) Lack of infrastructure to support development
It is suggested in the plans that a main entrance/exit to the site could be provided from Lichfield Road with a secondary entry/exit at the bottom of the Chester Road adjacent to the entrance to the Anchor Pub carpark.
This is absolutely impossible, and more importantly unsafe.
The Shire Oak 4-way traffic lights are already at their absolute maximum capacity and have been for several years. Despite welcomed improvements with additional lanes for turning added etc, there continues to be long queues of traffic every day in all directions.
Traffic gathers all the way down the Lichfield Road (both directions) and Chester Road (both directions) and adding a housing estate and further entries/exits to this route would severely impact local road users, home owners and residents.
Added to this, there is a safety aspect included. You should already be aware that there was a young student [redacted - sensitive information] killed on the Chester Road in 2014 whilst trying to cross the road on his way home from school.
To propose to put an entry/exit at this point is preposterous and wholly unsafe. You have the pub traffic and vehicles also turning onto the Lindon Road.
[See attachment]
To close the objection, I would like to state that development of this site would destroy our views, decrease our property value, affect our happiness and mental health and subject us to years of facing a building site and being overlooked. Our light would also be dramatically reduced given that the rear of our property is [redacted - sensitive information]
The site should remain greenbelt and should be given protection from this issue continually arising every few years.
It is unfair that residents and property owners whos lives & homes would be damaged should have to continually face the uncertainty of how long the land will remain as it is. Brownfield sites should be used, derelict buildings developed etc and our green spaces should be left alone.
I am happy for any persons involved in the Black Country Plan, with prior appointment, to visit our home and see for themselves.
Wold YOU want to lose this view?!