WINYATES Councillors have come together to oppose the building of 236 new homes at the ‘Mappleborough Woods’ site.
The land in question is a precious green lung separating the A435 Birmingham Road from Winyates Green.
Following the designation of the site as an area for development in Redditch’s 2017 Local Plan 4, it’s future has been threatened, and now this threat could turn into reality at a borough planning meeting this Wednesday, October 26 at 7pm.
Prior to its incorporation into Borough of Redditch Local Plan 4 by Labour who were in power at the time – on the advice of officers – the site had been designated as Area of Development Restraint (ADR).
The current application has sparked hundreds of objections from local residents who have highlighted how unsuitable this development is for the area and the severe environment damage it will cause.
The planning meeting will be held at Redditch Town Hall and will be live streamed on YouTube. Local residents who responded to the consultation have been invited to speak.
The Planning Committee will look at the case and hear from both the developers and the public, before reviewing the recommendations of the planning officers who have processed the application.
Planning officers have recommended the application for approval.
However, despite this recommendation, the Winyates Councillors team are determined to highlight the faults in this application and prevent it from passing.
Councillor Luke Court said: “Redditch already has extensive space allocated to housing development.
“In 2019, information was published which shows Redditch has sufficient land supply designated for housing to last us until 2030. We do not need to be developing our woodland.”
Coun Peter Fleming added: “Winyates Green suffers from full local schools, at capacity GP services and growing levels of traffic. These homes will further overload already stretched public services.”
His colleague Coun Athony Lovell, who hold the environment portfolio on RBC said: “There’s absolutely no way this development can improve on the biodiversity and ecology that already exists in and around Mappleborough Woods.
“By building 236 properties, the development will destroy the habitat of many species of organism and disrupt the already fragmented green corridor that many animals rely on to travel into and around Ipsley Alders Marsh, and the Arrow Valley Park.
“For the sake of our planet, our biodiversity and the climate, it will be wrong on so many levels to allow this development to go ahead.”
School children at neighbouring Mappleborough Green Primary School have also objected to the planning proposal, even writing to their local MP, former Chancellor of the Exchequer Nadhim Zahawi to enlist his support.
