MP Mitchell condemns city creep into green belt
BIRMINGHAM MP Andrew Mitchell has attacked the city council leader for insisting that it is right to build homes on green belt land.
Council leader Ian Ward (Labour) defended a policy of building on the green belt last week.
Cllr Ward insisted: “We have to face up to our responsibility to meet our housing need in this city.
“If we don’t do that, we are simply going to say to future generations that there’s just going to be increased homelessness and an increase in overcrowding in existing homes.”
It comes after the authority decided to build 6,000 homes on green belt land near Sutton Coldfield, despite opposition from Mr Mitchell and other campaigners, who say Birmingham could make much better use of brownfield land.
Mr Mitchell said: “This is a slap in the face to Sutton Coldfield, where Birmingham is falling down on the job of building on brownfield sites and having the right levels of density. I agree with him we’ve got to build more homes but they have to be in the right place.
“Building on the green belt should be a last resort, not the first.
“He should have learnt the lesson from Sutton Coldfield, that it’s not the right way to win hearts and influence people.
“Indeed, the danger of building in the wrong place is that you forfeit public support for building the huge number of new homes essential for the future of our communities.”
The council says it needs to build 90,000 homes by 2031 to meet the projected housing needs of the city, but there is only space for 60,000 within city limits.
It means the city will have to lean on neighbouring councils to help them meet their housing requirements. But Cllr Ward said it could only do this if it had examined every other possible option for building in Birmingham.
He said: “On the question of development on green sites, we simply say this: we have a housing need in this city which is in excess of 90,000 units between now and 2031, we can only fit somewhere between 50,000 and 60,000 units within city boundaries.”
He added: “We have got to build the homes for our future generations, and that will mean building on some green areas across the city.”
He added: “That is why we have released the largest piece of green belt of any local authority in the country, north of Birmingham, where we are going to build 6,000 homes, the equivalent of building Bridgnorth.
“Even with those 6,000 homes we are still well short of the 90,000 homes we need to build, that is why we are reliant on our neighbouring authorities to meet our need.”