Fury over green belt homes Build new town elsewhere, say campaigners fighting 6,000 houses
ALEADING campaigner in the battle to save Sutton Coldfield’s green belt has said the region needs a new town to meet housing demand rather than allowing Birmingham to sprawl further.
Suzanne Webb of the Project Fields campaign made the call after the Government gave the go-ahead for the release of green belt land east of Walmley for the development of 6,000 homes and a large factory.
Housing minister Gavin Barwell agreed the Birmingham Development Plan can be formally adopted, releasing the land.
Mr Barwell said the scale of housing demand in Birmingham and the surrounding area was so great – the city needs 89,000 new homes by 2031 – that his ‘holding direction’ should be lifted and the plan adopted.
The plan sets out how the city should be developed over the next 15 years and earmarks sites for 51,000 homes, as well as commercial development.
By far the most controversial part was the use of green belt to create the Langley Sustainable Urban Extension.
But Ms Webb called Birmingham City Council’s Development Plan, which is now set to be formally adopted early next year, “short-sighted” and designed to cram houses in without consid- ering infrastructure such transport links, schools health services.
Ms Webb said: “No one disagrees with the fact that we need houses and that we need them built faster, but the decision to build here is denying people the houses in the right place with the right infrastructure.
“Difficult decisions will always be made about the green belt and it can be an emotional issue as and – but our argument is this, mingham City Council did present a plan, but a knee reaction to a housing crisis.
“Council leader John Clancy has demonstrated this as he talks of the young growing city, that it needs to work for those people, yet he proposes to build a small town on the side of Sutton Coldfield where the houses will have an average price of £350,000. Is this really working for those people?”
She said cramming 45,000 homes inside Birmingham and 6,000 on the green belt was not the answer and called for a new town in the wider region.
She added: “They have a shortfall of 38,000. This can only be met outside the boundaries.
“So I think the maths on that is simple, come 2031 we will be at capacity and no more houses can be built in Birmingham. So what Birnot jerk SUTTON Coldfield MP Andrew Mitchell has vowed to fight the plans for the 6,000 homes. The Tory MP hit out at Sajid Javid, the Local Government Secretary and MP for Bromsgrove, who ultimately approved the scheme, saying he broke a manifesto promise to protect the green belt.
And he said he would attempt to change the law to block the homes, telling Mr Javid in the Commons: “We will seek to oppose his decision through all legal means, and amend future legislation in this House to give the protection that he has shown himself unable to provide.”
Mr Mitchell pointed out Mr Javid had said the manifesto pledge was “absolutely sacrosanct” in the Commons. He told the Local Government Secretary: “Does the Secretary of State understand the anger and disappointment felt throughout Sutton Coldfield at his decision will they do then? If the city council were visionary and had our interests at heart they would realise they should be planning now within the new combined West Midlands authority to build a new town, a garden city, and not removing all open space and just cramming homes in because ‘houses need to be built.”
There has been speculation from developers that the arrival of HS2 in 2026 will prompt greater demand for housing near the proposed Interchange Station at the NEC and Airport. It is thought this could lead to the emergence of a new town between Birmingham and Solihull.
But responding to the Sutton Coldfield decision, council leader John Clancy backed the plans.
He said: “This is excellent news because it means we can now get on with the vital task of building homes and delivering the jobs that our fast-growing population so desperately needs.
“This is an ambitious plan for growth which will deliver 51,000 new homes and significant new employment opportunities.”
But Conservative councillor David Barrie, who represents Sutton New Hall, said he was disappointed by the news.
“We have fought this all the way but now it looks like they are going to concrete over the green belt,” he said. “The battle will go on, however.” last week to back Labour’s wholly unnecessary plans to build on Sutton’s green belt? Does he realise this is a breach of the Conservative Party’s election manifesto and his own words from just a few weeks ago?”
But Mr Javid insisted he was right to end a block on the plans. He said: “The reason the government placed a hold on the Birmingham Local Plan was precisely because the Government values the green belt. It is very, very special.
“But where you have a local community that has come forward with a robust plan, that has looked at all the alternatives, that’s considered its housing needs, it’s prioritised brownfield sites, and where the independent planning inspectorate has said that it meets all the rules and regulations, then the government has no valid reason to stand in the way.”
Birmingham City Council did not present a plan, but a knee jerk reaction to a housing crisis Suzanne Webb