Draft Black Country Plan

Object

Representation ID: 44830

Received: 11/10/2021

Respondent: Finchfield Waterside Care (Keep Britain Tidy)

Number of people: 9

WHO 274 WTNA

Finchfield Waterside Care (Keep Britain Tidy) is a group of local volunteers that looks after Finchfield Brook and its environs where it flows through the Smestow Valley Local Nature Reserve (LNR)

We believe it is a serious mistake to include the former Wolverhampton Environment Centre (the WEC) in the Black Country Plan. Residential or commercial development on the WEC will have a deleterious effect on the wildlife and people who use the Local Nature Reserve.

Houses bring traffic. [CC4 - Air Quality page 277]
- Traffic pollutes the air. [HW1 p.74…… BCP aims to ‘create an environment that protects and improves the physical, social and mental health and wellbeing of its residents, employees and visitors and reduces health inequalities’] The proposed houses on the WEC will be
occupied 24/7. At the moment we volunteers leave our cars at [redacted]. We walk to the Brook and enjoy exercise in fresh air.

- Traffic harms wildlife and people. [ENV1 - Nature Conservation, p201……’ development is not permitted where it would harm nationally (Sites of Special Scientific Interest and National Nature Reserves) or regionally (Local Nature Reserves and Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation) designated nature conservation sites’ ] To get to the WECs traffic will enter the Local Nature Reserve, it will cross a greenway.

[Protected Species] inhabit the wetlands around the WEC. Crushed bodies, ‘road kill’, should not be a feature of a nature reserve. [ENV1 d) ‘the movement of wildlife within the Black Country and its adjoining areas, through both linear habitats (e.g. wildlife corridors) and the wider urban matrix (e.g. stepping-stone sites) is not impeded by development’]

Houses and traffic pollute water courses. [CC6 – Sustainable Drainage and Surface Water Management p.288]
- Since October 2018 Waterside Care has reported to the Environment Agency seventeen cases of pollution in the Brook. Most of the causes of pollution are household effluence but one case involved the dumping of engine oil in the water. The Brook flows into the canal and the Smestow Brook and then the Stour. [Protected species] are returning to Staffs-Worcester Canal. The BBC Wildlife Trust is promoting ‘Salmon in the Stour’, a campaign for clean water. Housing on the WEC will not help the aim of Waterside Care to create a healthy stream for the benefit of people and wildlife.

Housing will contribute to flooding. [CC5 – Flood Risk p. 282] Houses, access roads, and hard driveways prevent rain water from seeping into the soil to replenish aquifers. The water will instead be directed into drains which flow into the Finchfield Brook.

- Flood-water from the Brook regularly makes the public footpath to Wightwick Mill Lock impassable after heavy rain. Each month Waterside Care volunteers dredge silt from the Brook to alleviate flooding. Fourteen houses in the catchment area of the Brook will add to the problem of flooding.

- The 0.45 ha site in the WEC allocated in the BCP for 14 houses is developing into a shallow wetland. This wetland will absorb water that would otherwise find its way into the Brook.

- The developing wetland will provide an aqua habitat, of which there are too few in the LNR

- The developing wetland will extend the area suitable for the endangered species, the existing [protected species]

Houses and traffic bring……
- Lights and noise pollution to disturb the foraging and breeding habits of wildlife.
- Domestic cats, deadly for birds and small mammals
- Litter. Waterside Care is justly proud of its success in clearing litter from the Railway Walk, Turner’s Field and Finchfield Brook every month. Each year we prevent several kilos of plastic, foil and cans from entering the canal and the Smestow Brook.

The WEC is in the Green Belt. It is in the Local Nature Reserve. It is a place of peace and tranquillity.
- We, volunteers with Waterside Care, appreciate the benefits that the Smestow Valley Local Nature Reserve has brought to us, especially during the recent pandemic. Houses on the WEC will undermine values underpinning care for the environment, values which are essential to combating climate change.

Creating a stronger, prosperous and sustainable Black Country
Waterside Care spreads the message of ‘Care for the Environment’
- To allow houses to be built on the WEC, in the Green Belt in the middle of the city’s only Local Nature Reserve will send a contrary message that Wolverhampton does not care for the challenge of climate change nor for the natural environment which will help to meet that challenge.

Therefore we, the undersigned volunteers with Waterside Care, strongly oppose the inclusion of any part of the Wolverhampton Environment Centre as a site for potential development in the Black Country Plan.

Object

Representation ID: 44863

Received: 11/10/2021

Respondent: Finchfield Waterside Care (Keep Britain Tidy)

Objection to Site Allocation WHO 274 WTNA
(page 608 of Draft Black Country Plan)

Finchfield Waterside Care (Keep Britain Tidy) is a group of local volunteers that looks after Finchfield Brook and its environs where it flows through the Smestow Valley Local Nature Reserve (LNR)

We believe it is a serious mistake to include the former Wolverhampton Environment Centre (the WEC) in the Black Country Plan. Residential or commercial development on the WEC will have a deleterious effect on the wildlife and people who use the Local Nature Reserve.

Houses bring traffic. [CC4 - Air Quality page 277]
- Traffic pollutes the air. [HW1 p.74…… BCP aims to ‘create an environment that protects and improves the physical, social and mental health and wellbeing of its residents, employees and visitors and reduces health inequalities’] The proposed houses on the WEC will be
occupied 24/7. At the moment we volunteers leave our cars at [redacted]. We walk to the Brook and enjoy exercise in fresh air.

- Traffic harms wildlife and people. [ENV1 - Nature Conservation, p201……’ development is not permitted where it would harm nationally (Sites of Special Scientific Interest and National Nature Reserves) or regionally (Local Nature Reserves and Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation) designated nature conservation sites’ ] To get to the WECs traffic will enter the Local Nature Reserve, it will cross a greenway.

[Protected Species] inhabit the wetlands around the WEC. Crushed bodies, ‘road kill’, should not be a feature of a nature reserve. [ENV1 d) ‘the movement of wildlife within the Black Country and its adjoining areas, through both linear habitats (e.g. wildlife corridors) and the wider urban matrix (e.g. stepping-stone sites) is not impeded by development’]

Houses and traffic pollute water courses. [CC6 – Sustainable Drainage and Surface Water Management p.288]
- Since October 2018 Waterside Care has reported to the Environment Agency seventeen cases of pollution in the Brook. Most of the causes of pollution are household effluence but one case involved the dumping of engine oil in the water. The Brook flows into the canal and the Smestow Brook and then the Stour. [Protected species] are returning to Staffs-Worcester Canal. The BBC Wildlife Trust is promoting ‘Salmon in the Stour’, a campaign for clean water. Housing on the WEC will not help the aim of Waterside Care to create a healthy stream for the benefit of people and wildlife.

Housing will contribute to flooding. [CC5 – Flood Risk p. 282] Houses, access roads, and hard driveways prevent rain water from seeping into the soil to replenish aquifers. The water will instead be directed into drains which flow into the Finchfield Brook.

- Flood-water from the Brook regularly makes the public footpath to Wightwick Mill Lock impassable after heavy rain. Each month Waterside Care volunteers dredge silt from the Brook to alleviate flooding. Fourteen houses in the catchment area of the Brook will add to the problem of flooding.

- The 0.45 ha site in the WEC allocated in the BCP for 14 houses is developing into a shallow wetland. This wetland will absorb water that would otherwise find its way into the Brook.

- The developing wetland will provide an aqua habitat, of which there are too few in the LNR

- The developing wetland will extend the area suitable for the endangered species, the existing [protected species]

Houses and traffic bring……
- Lights and noise pollution to disturb the foraging and breeding habits of wildlife.
- Domestic cats, deadly for birds and small mammals
- Litter. Waterside Care is justly proud of its success in clearing litter from the Railway Walk, Turner’s Field and Finchfield Brook every month. Each year we prevent several kilos of plastic, foil and cans from entering the canal and the Smestow Brook.

The WEC is in the Green Belt. It is in the Local Nature Reserve. It is a place of peace and tranquillity.
- We, volunteers with Waterside Care, appreciate the benefits that the Smestow Valley Local Nature Reserve has brought to us, especially during the recent pandemic. Houses on the WEC will undermine values underpinning care for the environment, values which are essential to combating climate change.

Creating a stronger, prosperous and sustainable Black Country
Waterside Care spreads the message of ‘Care for the Environment’
- To allow houses to be built on the WEC, in the Green Belt in the middle of the city’s only Local Nature Reserve will send a contrary message that Wolverhampton does not care for the challenge of climate change nor for the natural environment which will help to meet that challenge.

Therefore we, the undersigned volunteers with Waterside Care, strongly oppose the inclusion of any part of the Wolverhampton Environment Centre as a site for potential development in the Black Country Plan.

Object

Representation ID: 44864

Received: 11/10/2021

Respondent: Finchfield Waterside Care (Keep Britain Tidy)

Objection to Site Allocation WHO 274 WTNA
(page 608 of Draft Black Country Plan)

Finchfield Waterside Care (Keep Britain Tidy) is a group of local volunteers that looks after Finchfield Brook and its environs where it flows through the Smestow Valley Local Nature Reserve (LNR)

We believe it is a serious mistake to include the former Wolverhampton Environment Centre (the WEC) in the Black Country Plan. Residential or commercial development on the WEC will have a deleterious effect on the wildlife and people who use the Local Nature Reserve.

Houses bring traffic. [CC4 - Air Quality page 277]
- Traffic pollutes the air. [HW1 p.74…… BCP aims to ‘create an environment that protects and improves the physical, social and mental health and wellbeing of its residents, employees and visitors and reduces health inequalities’] The proposed houses on the WEC will be
occupied 24/7. At the moment we volunteers leave our cars at [redacted]. We walk to the Brook and enjoy exercise in fresh air.

- Traffic harms wildlife and people. [ENV1 - Nature Conservation, p201……’ development is not permitted where it would harm nationally (Sites of Special Scientific Interest and National Nature Reserves) or regionally (Local Nature Reserves and Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation) designated nature conservation sites’ ] To get to the WECs traffic will enter the Local Nature Reserve, it will cross a greenway.

[Protected Species] inhabit the wetlands around the WEC. Crushed bodies, ‘road kill’, should not be a feature of a nature reserve. [ENV1 d) ‘the movement of wildlife within the Black Country and its adjoining areas, through both linear habitats (e.g. wildlife corridors) and the wider urban matrix (e.g. stepping-stone sites) is not impeded by development’]

Houses and traffic pollute water courses. [CC6 – Sustainable Drainage and Surface Water Management p.288]
- Since October 2018 Waterside Care has reported to the Environment Agency seventeen cases of pollution in the Brook. Most of the causes of pollution are household effluence but one case involved the dumping of engine oil in the water. The Brook flows into the canal and the Smestow Brook and then the Stour. [Protected species] are returning to Staffs-Worcester Canal. The BBC Wildlife Trust is promoting ‘Salmon in the Stour’, a campaign for clean water. Housing on the WEC will not help the aim of Waterside Care to create a healthy stream for the benefit of people and wildlife.

Housing will contribute to flooding. [CC5 – Flood Risk p. 282] Houses, access roads, and hard driveways prevent rain water from seeping into the soil to replenish aquifers. The water will instead be directed into drains which flow into the Finchfield Brook.

- Flood-water from the Brook regularly makes the public footpath to Wightwick Mill Lock impassable after heavy rain. Each month Waterside Care volunteers dredge silt from the Brook to alleviate flooding. Fourteen houses in the catchment area of the Brook will add to the problem of flooding.

- The 0.45 ha site in the WEC allocated in the BCP for 14 houses is developing into a shallow wetland. This wetland will absorb water that would otherwise find its way into the Brook.

- The developing wetland will provide an aqua habitat, of which there are too few in the LNR

- The developing wetland will extend the area suitable for the endangered species, the existing [protected species]

Houses and traffic bring……
- Lights and noise pollution to disturb the foraging and breeding habits of wildlife.
- Domestic cats, deadly for birds and small mammals
- Litter. Waterside Care is justly proud of its success in clearing litter from the Railway Walk, Turner’s Field and Finchfield Brook every month. Each year we prevent several kilos of plastic, foil and cans from entering the canal and the Smestow Brook.

The WEC is in the Green Belt. It is in the Local Nature Reserve. It is a place of peace and tranquillity.
- We, volunteers with Waterside Care, appreciate the benefits that the Smestow Valley Local Nature Reserve has brought to us, especially during the recent pandemic. Houses on the WEC will undermine values underpinning care for the environment, values which are essential to combating climate change.

Creating a stronger, prosperous and sustainable Black Country
Waterside Care spreads the message of ‘Care for the Environment’
- To allow houses to be built on the WEC, in the Green Belt in the middle of the city’s only Local Nature Reserve will send a contrary message that Wolverhampton does not care for the challenge of climate change nor for the natural environment which will help to meet that challenge.

Therefore we, the undersigned volunteers with Waterside Care, strongly oppose the inclusion of any part of the Wolverhampton Environment Centre as a site for potential development in the Black Country Plan.

Object

Representation ID: 44865

Received: 11/10/2021

Respondent: Finchfield Waterside Care (Keep Britain Tidy)

Objection to Site Allocation WHO 274 WTNA
(page 608 of Draft Black Country Plan)

Finchfield Waterside Care (Keep Britain Tidy) is a group of local volunteers that looks after Finchfield Brook and its environs where it flows through the Smestow Valley Local Nature Reserve (LNR)

We believe it is a serious mistake to include the former Wolverhampton Environment Centre (the WEC) in the Black Country Plan. Residential or commercial development on the WEC will have a deleterious effect on the wildlife and people who use the Local Nature Reserve.

Houses bring traffic. [CC4 - Air Quality page 277]
- Traffic pollutes the air. [HW1 p.74…… BCP aims to ‘create an environment that protects and improves the physical, social and mental health and wellbeing of its residents, employees and visitors and reduces health inequalities’] The proposed houses on the WEC will be
occupied 24/7. At the moment we volunteers leave our cars at [redacted]. We walk to the Brook and enjoy exercise in fresh air.

- Traffic harms wildlife and people. [ENV1 - Nature Conservation, p201……’ development is not permitted where it would harm nationally (Sites of Special Scientific Interest and National Nature Reserves) or regionally (Local Nature Reserves and Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation) designated nature conservation sites’ ] To get to the WECs traffic will enter the Local Nature Reserve, it will cross a greenway.

[Protected Species] inhabit the wetlands around the WEC. Crushed bodies, ‘road kill’, should not be a feature of a nature reserve. [ENV1 d) ‘the movement of wildlife within the Black Country and its adjoining areas, through both linear habitats (e.g. wildlife corridors) and the wider urban matrix (e.g. stepping-stone sites) is not impeded by development’]

Houses and traffic pollute water courses. [CC6 – Sustainable Drainage and Surface Water Management p.288]
- Since October 2018 Waterside Care has reported to the Environment Agency seventeen cases of pollution in the Brook. Most of the causes of pollution are household effluence but one case involved the dumping of engine oil in the water. The Brook flows into the canal and the Smestow Brook and then the Stour. [Protected species] are returning to Staffs-Worcester Canal. The BBC Wildlife Trust is promoting ‘Salmon in the Stour’, a campaign for clean water. Housing on the WEC will not help the aim of Waterside Care to create a healthy stream for the benefit of people and wildlife.

Housing will contribute to flooding. [CC5 – Flood Risk p. 282] Houses, access roads, and hard driveways prevent rain water from seeping into the soil to replenish aquifers. The water will instead be directed into drains which flow into the Finchfield Brook.

- Flood-water from the Brook regularly makes the public footpath to Wightwick Mill Lock impassable after heavy rain. Each month Waterside Care volunteers dredge silt from the Brook to alleviate flooding. Fourteen houses in the catchment area of the Brook will add to the problem of flooding.

- The 0.45 ha site in the WEC allocated in the BCP for 14 houses is developing into a shallow wetland. This wetland will absorb water that would otherwise find its way into the Brook.

- The developing wetland will provide an aqua habitat, of which there are too few in the LNR

- The developing wetland will extend the area suitable for the endangered species, the existing [protected species]

Houses and traffic bring……
- Lights and noise pollution to disturb the foraging and breeding habits of wildlife.
- Domestic cats, deadly for birds and small mammals
- Litter. Waterside Care is justly proud of its success in clearing litter from the Railway Walk, Turner’s Field and Finchfield Brook every month. Each year we prevent several kilos of plastic, foil and cans from entering the canal and the Smestow Brook.

The WEC is in the Green Belt. It is in the Local Nature Reserve. It is a place of peace and tranquillity.
- We, volunteers with Waterside Care, appreciate the benefits that the Smestow Valley Local Nature Reserve has brought to us, especially during the recent pandemic. Houses on the WEC will undermine values underpinning care for the environment, values which are essential to combating climate change.

Creating a stronger, prosperous and sustainable Black Country
Waterside Care spreads the message of ‘Care for the Environment’
- To allow houses to be built on the WEC, in the Green Belt in the middle of the city’s only Local Nature Reserve will send a contrary message that Wolverhampton does not care for the challenge of climate change nor for the natural environment which will help to meet that challenge.

Therefore we, the undersigned volunteers with Waterside Care, strongly oppose the inclusion of any part of the Wolverhampton Environment Centre as a site for potential development in the Black Country Plan.