A PLAN which will control the long-term development of the Bromsgrove district for up to the next 20 years is set to be discussed by councillors on Thursday.
At a full council meeting members will be considering launching a consultation on the Bromsgrove District Local Plan: Draft Development Strategy.
Bromsgrove District Council’s cabinet member for planning, councillor Kit Taylor said: “At this stage the Draft Development Strategy is not a finished plan and does not confirm any site for development.
“It is, however, a real opportunity for residents to provide their views as part of a process for ensuring that we secure the best possible development across the District in the future.”
The Draft Development Strategy has been completed by officers who have worked closely with elected members from all areas of the District.
The draft strategy has been compiled from the initial assessment of over 400 sites.
If the consultation process is approved the council will urge residents to use their knowledge of their local area to help officers develop the strategy further.
Residents can give their thoughts on things such as road congestion, local transport services, healthcare, education provision and more.
Coun Taylor added: “If we decide to launch a consultation then we need our residents, businesses, groups and organisations to help us to fill in the blanks.
“Of course we understand people will have their own views about where development should and shouldn’t take place.
“But we do have to accept the amount of development required in the District which is determined by Government.
“By working together we can create a strong blueprint for the future of Bromsgrove for the next 20 years and our future generations.”
‘Home allocation needs to be fairer’ – Lib Dems
The plan has been criticised by Bromsgrove Liberal Democrats which claims the ruling Conservative group has ‘brought forward an unsuitable local development plan and not considering the pressure on the town’s infrastructure that 2,570 new homes would bring’.
Lib Dem councillors say they are concerned the plan seeks more housing than is actually necessary to hit the Government’s higher targets.
The government only requires a 15-year plan for 9,000 homes. But, the Lib Dems say, the proposals put out to residents for consultation contain sites to meet the 9,280 homes requirement plus ‘an aspirational option for longer term growth, providing for large scale housing and employment development based on the provision of a new motorway junction at Grafton Manor and a new railway station in Stoke Prior. This plan dubbed the ‘Grafton Manor New Town goes beyond the requirements set out by Government, proposing even more development in the longer term.
The Lib Dems added the new housing should have been shared more across the district, labelling it ‘an uneccessary Grafton Manor new town’ in the longer term for its position of the site (near Grafton Manor).
The plan published on Wednesday seeks local residents views on the best places in the district to build new homes over the next 15 years. The Labour Government has increased Bromsgrove’s housing targets so that it now has to find land for an additional 9,280 homes over the next fifteen years, almost all of which have to be built in previously protected green belt.
Coun David Nicholl, who represents Avoncroft ward which would be heavily impacted by the proposal, said: “As far as I know nobody has asked for a Grafton Manor New Town and so I don’t understand what business the Conservatives have proposing this when it goes above and beyond the requirements laid out by central Government.
“Furthermore the council is about to be absorbed into a bigger council as part of local government reorganisation and so has absolutely no mandate to propose this unnecessary new town and the complete destruction of the historic setting of Grafton Manor.”
The party says it wants to see more genuinely affordable homes for local residents who need to get on the ladder but that the plan laid out is not fit for purpose, with too much new housing proposed for the town of Bromsgrove which is ‘already creaking at the seams and not enough in other locations such as closer to the fringe of Birmingham where there is better access to services’.
The meeting starts at 6pm on Thursday, June 19 and will be livestreamed.
Visit https://www.bromsgrove.gov.uk/council/the-council/ to find the meeting agenda. Click on Agenda for Council on Thursday, June 19 2025, 6.00pm to find out more about the Local Plan.
