Friday, March 29, 2024
HomeYour VillageAlvechurchThe ‘least bad’ homes plan

The ‘least bad’ homes plan

-

Fears that the fields between Redditch and Alvechurch could be filled with new houses have been increased by proposals contained in a new study.

Almost 6,000 new homes could spread across “Bordesley Park”, stretching over the Arrow Valley Green Belt from the railway line in the west to Icknield Street and Storrage Lane, Rowney Green, to the east and north.

They would wash across the fields as far as Cobbs Barn roundabout to the west of Bordesley and eastwards from the extent of housing on the A441.

The only glimmer of good news in the draft report by planning consultants White Young Green – who admit it is a matter of choosing the “least bad” option – is that the development could only go ahead if the long-awaited Bordesley bypass was built.

The report was commissioned by a group of local authorities to investigate options being proposed for the West Midlands Regional Spatial Strategy.

The main concern is over the allocation of thousands of new homes to Redditch which would have to be built to the north of town – in Bromsgrove district – where there is adequate infrastructure to support them.

The idea is being resisted by Bromsgrove District Council, whose leader, Coun Roger Hollingworth, told The Village:

“We are talking to the Redditch planners and are saying that they should be using their own Areas of Development Restraint [Green Belt land earmarked as future development sites] and some of their own green open space in Redditch.”

The Regional Spatial Strategy is expected to be open to public examination early next year and could be enacted as soon as April, with the houses being built over the next 17 years.

Coun Hollingworth is arranging a meeting to update Rowney Green residents about the plans at the Memorial Hall on November 7.