PEOPLE across Bromsgrove District are set to have their say on local development plans to guide growth and help provide a blueprint for the area for future generations.
Last night, Bromsgrove District councillors voted to send a draft Development Strategy to control long-term growth in the area out to public consultation.
The strategy sets out how a local plan could handle growth requirements up to 2043. Set by the Government, those requirements include the need for approximately 9,000 new homes and the infrastructure to support that.
How did this process start?
The process started with Bromsgrove District Council putting a call out to landowners who had land that could be potentially be developed for homes and other infrastructure.
The authority received a good response with 400 pieces of land submitted for consideration.
The Bromsgrove District Council officers analysed each one, using the evidence available and the draft strategy was compiled, including suggestions as to where the properties should go. This was based on what the officers considered the most viable, taking the evidence into account.
But, the officers’ suggestions are not the ‘be all and end all’ – some of these parcels of lands may be unsuitable and some of the others among the 400 may be more suitable. Other pieces of land not submitted for development may also be viable but there is nothing to stop these being suggested as part of the process working towards a Local Plan.
Some councillors – including the Liberal Democrats and Independents – criticised the strategy and suggested rather than have just one option with put forward, there should have been more – three seemed to be the most popular.
It was stated there were six options worked up as part of the steering group meetings and discussions – from the 9,000 homes in the one option put forward to one which suggested sites for 32,000 homes.
So what stage are we at?
This is the third out of five stages of consultation for Bromsgrove District’s next Local Plan.
The two previous stages (as detailed above) gathered information and two more will follow – with a ‘preferred options’ consultation in 2026 and an actual plan in 2028.
Local plans make it much harder for developments outside the plan to get planning permission.
Planning authorities must adopt them by going through various stages of drafting and consultation, and then a final government inspection.
When does the consultation begin?
A 12-week consultation to gather more information from the community will now start next Monday (June 30). It will run until September 22 and include public events across the district at dates and locations which are to be confirmed.
It means residents and stakeholders like the NHS and education, utility and transport providers, will be able to respond to the planning issues, such as the locations of development and needs for sufficient services, facilities, and infrastructure.
From Monday, June 30, residents will be able to access consultation materials here and at Alvechurch, Bromsgrove, Catshill, Hagley, Rubery, and Wythall libraries. News on information events across the district to follow.
What did we learn at the meeting?
It was pointed out that every council in England should have a Local Plan which could be used as a blueprint for where development should go and what type of homes and other infrastructure should go there.
It was also stated, as well as a Local Plan for the next 15 years (which is when Bromsgrove must build its 9,000 homes by), each council needs a five-year land supply for home-building.
The council’s monitoring officer said Bromsgrove District Council had neither.
By not having a Local Plan, it was stated Bromsgrove District could be left open to unscrupulous and hostile development.
Developers could come forward with applications for any land they owned or parcels they could buy in whatever area of the district and they would have to be considered.
With a Local Plan, the council would have the option of saying ‘as the land is not designated for local housing, it should not be built there’. It basically gives authorities the chance to have more say on where development should go.
Bromsgrove district is 89 per cent greenbelt (among the highest if not the highest in the UK). Some of that will have to be sacrificed as part of the Local Plan – meeting the demand for housing and the Government’s targets.
Greenbelt is made up of three types:
- Greenfield – Never been developed before.
- Brownfield – Land previously developed, often for industrial or commercial use, but now vacant or underutilised (Bromsgrove does not have a lot of that).
- Greyfield – Underutilised or obsolete land and buildings within urban areas.
Is it just housing?
Local Plans deal with housing, but also employment land, such as offices and workplaces, green spaces, parks, schools, doctors’ surgeries, retail and others.
One councillor – Coun Charlie Hotham (independent) – did criticise this strategy put forward because it focused on housing and not anything else people need in their daily lives. He labelled it ‘half a plan’.
Who voted for what?
The vote was won by 18 votes to eight. The 18 who voted in favour were all the Conservatives and Labour councillors, along with two independents. The eight who voted against were two independents and all Liberal Democrats.
So why did people vote for or against?
Most of the councillors who voted for said it was important for people and the council to have their say on what development they would like to see in Bromsgrove District and whereabouts they would like to see it.
It was stressed throughout this strategy is not a final or draft plan – this was a consultation and the strategy is an ever-changing and evolving document in a bid to get the right results fro everyone.
Those who voted against primarily did so because they felt having just one option was not sufficient and there should have been more (three seemed to be the popular choice).
What the council’s planning chief says
Bromsgrove District Council’s Cabinet Member for Planning, Coun Kit Taylor, said the consultation was to check the long-term strategy is on the right track and, as part of the authority’s duty to plan for the Government’s housebuilding targets.
He added: “We are ensuring residents have this early and specially extended 12-week chance to say what they think the planning issues are, in an open and transparent way.
“The council only knows so much. We need residents and others to fill in the gaps with their knowledge about their areas, and thinking about future generations.
“For those who are thinking, why there, or why haven’t they included such and such a location, or what about X, Y and Z issues, this is the time to provide that information.
“This is the first sketch of what a plan could look like, drafted from the over 400 sites for building suggested by developers.
“It’s the start of a plan to keep our destiny in our own hands and in ways that we would want – not decided by developers and central government officials.”
People can visit: bromsgrove.gov.uk/BromsgrovePlan for more and to have their say – from June 30.
To view the blog we did live on what each of the councillors said, click here.
Click below to watch the whole of Thursday’s meeting, including three hours of debating.
ENDS
