TRAFFIC, congestion, fears over a loss of greenbelt land, and concerns over the potential loss of the town’s golf club have been among your responses to Bromsgrove’s Local Plan consultation.
Bromsgrove District Council has published summaries of the 8,000 feedback responses collated during the local plan consultation carried out from June to October last year.
Each document covers responses on the potential site allocations as well as topics raised about each area in general.
Of the proposed sites, just under a third of the future homes, roughly 3,000, are in Bromsgrove.
Another third are spread across Barnt Green, Catshill, Wythall, Alvechurch, Hagley, and Stoke Prior, with each allocated 340–600 homes.
And the final third, another 3,000 homes, at a single large site in Frankley, adjoining Birmingham.
What the public said
In Frankley, there were objections to the scale and concentration of 3,000 homes in one location, with some noting that this represents a significant percentage of the District’s housing need.
Respondents also deemed the local road network to be unsuitable and unsafe to accommodate the additional demand generated by a development of 3,000 homes.
In Alvechurch, housing was the most discussed topic by the public in the consultation, with concerns including the scale and proportionality and respondents emphasising a preference for smaller, phased growth.
Barnt Green residents were most interested in commenting on the highway network and congestion or traffic.
Concerns have been raised around highways ‘pinch points’ due to narrow roads, and road safety concerns have been identified at key junctions due to poor visibility.
Congestion and traffic were also key issues identified by members of the public in Bromsgrove town, with claims that the road network is already at or over-capacity, especially around the A38 corridor and the Oakalls roundabout.
There was also great concern about the loss of Bromsgrove Golf Course, which the council has identified as suitable for residential development as part of its local plan consultation.
Congestion and traffic were also big concerns in Catshill, as were the concerns about the potential use of greenbelt land for development, with people calling for a brownfield first policy.
Public consultees universally cited traffic and road safety as one of Hagley’s biggest constraints.
Residents highlighted that the A456, A491 and Worcester Road are at capacity with gridlocks daily.
Mainstream schools were a big issue for consultees in Stoke Prior, with Stoke Prior First School cited as oversubscribed.
And in Wythall, there is a concern that nearby housing developments in Solihull Borough are close to the proposed sites in the Bromsgrove Local Plan, which could impact traffic junctions, highway safety, school places and GP places.
Next steps
Bromsgrove District Council’s Strategic Planning Team is also preparing a timetable of actions to progress the Local Plan.
This is set to be considered at a meeting of the full Council from 6pm tonight.
Click here to watch the meeting.
Once the timetable for the Local Plan has been agreed and published, the next stage is the production of a scoping document that will be put out for consultation, giving residents, stakeholders and businesses a further chance to engage.
Visit www.bromsgrove.gov.uk/localplanlatestnews to view the full feedback summary documents.
