Campaigners battling plans for 140 houses in Staffordshire
Angry residents are campaigning to stop a developer building more than 140 houses near their homes in a Staffordshire village.
They claim Ken Lees donated an adjoining plot to South Staffordshire Council for a much-needed cemetery as a 'sweetener' to get his plan through.
Developer Ken Lees today dismissed the accusation as 'nonsense', saying the matter would be decided by the Government's planning inspectorate, not the council, because the proposed site off Landywood Lane, Great Wyrley, is on green belt land.
Villagers in both Great Wyrley and Cheslyn Hay have launched a petition, which has more than 600 names so far, and have joined forces to stop the scheme.
SOS posters, appealing to planners to Save Our Space, have gone up around the area.
Among the protesters are Clive and Glenis Priest, who moved into their home in Landywood Lane just a month ago.
Mr Priest said: "We were devastated by the news as the site backs on to our garden. The whole community is united in opposing it."
The initial application asks for permission to build access roads into the site. In a statement to the South Staffordshire authority, the extent of the development is outlined.
It is proposed to build 141 houses, including 56 affordable homes. The scheme also provides for a park-and-ride scheme on land adjacent to the site to serve the nearby railway station.
A new health centre to replace an existing facility, a care home and allotments are also planned.
The land adjoins a 12-acre site gifted by the developer for an 8,000-plot cemetery which opened earlier this year.
The site has a market value of £250,000 but was given to the district council by the 76-year-old businessman, who grew up in Great Wyrley.
It will ease a shortage of burial plots in the village and neighbouring Cheslyn Hay, and is expected to meet demand for two generations.
Mr Lees, who runs Cannock-based KGL Estates, said the cemetery land had been given as 'a duty, as a Great Wyrley man'.
The landowner, who lives at Teddesley Park, near Penkridge, added: "To suggest that I used the cemetery land as some sort of bargaining chip is nonsense. It would also be blackmail."
He said housing was needed in the area and that once the £30 million electrification of the Chase Line between Walsall and Rugeley was completed in 2017, the railway station would need many more parking spaces.
Two meetings have been set up at community halls in Great Wyrley and Cheslyn Hay for next Wednesday at 7pm by agents for the developer so that residents can have their say.
