A PLEA has been issued by campaigners for Birmingham to ‘intervene immediately’ and take the burden of housing to ‘protect Bromsgrove’s green belt’.
The call has been made by the West Midlands Countryside Campaigners, who feel Birmingham City Council has the power to protect Bromsgrove’s green belt from ‘intrusive’ housing development.
The campaigners claimed a surplus of new housing could help Bromsgrove, as well as Black Country Councils, such as Walsall and Solihull to withdraw controversial countryside and green belt sites in favour of sustainable urban housing development in Birmingham.
Birmingham is currently consulting on its Local Plan, which allocates development sites up to 2044.
The countryside campaigners said Birmingham had identified a surplus supply of housing of at least 13,000 homes without taking any land out of its green belt.
A study undertaken for the West Midlands Region of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CRPE) by its Technical Advisor, Gerald Kells, claims the surplus of housing land available within the city of Birmingham could be at least twice as much as stated.
The CPRE believes Birmingham could allocate at least 25,000 of its brownfield supply of sites for homes to other authorities to reduce pressure on their countryside.
CPRE’s Regional Planning Committee chair, Dr Peter King, has written to leading councillors and senior planners in Birmingham, Solihull, the Black Country, North Worcestershire and Lichfield, urging them to jointly review how much housing Birmingham can provide for its neighbours before green field controversial sites are locked in for development in local plans.
He said: “Changes to planning policy made by the Labour government in 2024 have added huge pressure on many councils to provide housing beyond their genuine needs.
“In contrast, Birmingham’s housing target was greatly reduced. The City is now in an enviable position to meet some of the high housing targets imposed on other planning authorities.
“Building more homes in the urban area on brownfield sites will support sustainable development in the West Midlands and prevent the loss of the Green Belt.
“CPRE urges the planners in the Conurbation and the surrounding Councils to work now to protect the Green Belt and ensure sustainable development across the region.”
A Birmingham City Council spokesperson said: “The National Planning Policy Framework sets out a standard method for assessing local housing need, which uses a formula based on local housing stock and affordability pressures.
“This latest standard methodology for calculating housing need removed an arbitrary uplift in dwelling numbers applied to core cities, therefore reducing Birmingham’s housing need.
“Birmingham City Council is currently reviewing its Local Plan to ensure its development needs are met up to 2044.
“We are consulting on a Focused Preferred Options Document that outlines a strategy to meet housing and employment needs on mainly brownfield sites within City Centre Growth Zones.
“The consultation also explores other potential areas for additional housing and employment land.”
Bromsgrove MP Bradley Thomas has been campaigning to save the green belt in the district.
He said: “The Government’s housing targets are their attempt at forcing a city template onto rural communities and urbanising them against the will of locals.
Instead of looking where housing demands are the highest and which sites, namely the 140 hectares of brownfield land available in Birmingham, are most appropriate for development priority, they are instead sacrificing valuable greenbelt land in the name of ideology.
“To be clear, I recognise the need for additional housing in Bromsgrove and the Villages, however it must be accompanied by sufficient infrastructure, to ensure our vital services do not become overwhelmed, and adhere to strict design codes to ensure new developments integrate seamlessly into our beautiful community.”
