Protest groups set up over plans to build 3,400 homes near Redditch - The Redditch Standard

Protest groups set up over plans to build 3,400 homes near Redditch

Redditch Editorial 20th Jan, 2017   0

THE highly controversial Borough of Redditch Local Plan 4 is just one step away from becoming reality after being approved by the council’s executive committee.

The plan has gone through two public hearings and countless objections, and led to the development of two protest groups to fight it.

In total the document allows for an extra 6,400 new homes over 15 years in the Redditch area, including approximately 3,400 new homes in the triangle of Greenbelt between Webheath, Bentley village and along the Bromsgrove Highway in Bromsgrove district.

Opposition in Webheath, while accepting the need to shoulder some of the demand for housing, had centred on Bordesley being a more suitable location.




Other controversial sites include Winyates Green, part of the land within the boundary of the borough earmarked to take an additional 3,000 new homes.

In the document, planning inspector Michael Hetherington also touches upon the ‘known unknown’ of meeting the housing needs of Birmingham.


The city has the youngest population of any in Europe with 40 per cent of its citizens under 25 years of age.

It is possible that Redditch, along with other neighbouring authorities, may have to accommodate some of the overspill, in which case the Bordesley site is likely to come back into play.

Councillor Brandon Clayton (Con, Astwood Bank & Feckenham) told the executive committee: “There are some parts of this plan we agree with and some we do not. We believe all the houses which are set for Bromsgrove district and at Winyates Green and other areas in the town should be built at Bordesley.”

However Coun Greg Chance (Lab, Central) said: “I’m pleased to recommend to council what has been found by the planning inspector to be a sound plan.

“Redditch needs a plan desperately for the benefit of the whole town – and it’s a binary choice – we either adopt or we do not, and we need to adopt as the plan gives us a framework of how we want Redditch to be and this plan does that.”

The plan now goes to Redditch full council on Monday, January 30 for formal approval.

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