More than 2,500 sign petition against Great Wyrley housing plan
Opposition is swelling against controversial plans for a housing estate on green belt land, with more than 2,500 people adding their names to a campaign.
A total of 136 homes will be build on a site off Landywood Lane, if planning permission is given by South Staffordshire Council.
But the plans by KGL Holdings, which come less than two years after similar proposals for new homes at the site were thrown out, have angered villagers.
Many feel, if approved, it will pave the way for entire swathes of green belt land to be built on and merge the village with Cheslyn Hay.
Residents living near the proposed development site have submitted 2,141 protest letters to the council, with hundreds more villagers detailing their objections to the controversial development on the council's website.
A decision is not expected until December and members of a protest group are being supported by South Staffordshire MP Gavin Williamson.
He said:"I have fought tirelessly to protect our green belt land from being destroyed.
"In recent years, South Staffordshire has faced intrusions on our greenbelt from gypsy and traveller sites, fly tipping and inappropriate developments.
"Currently our greenbelt land is under threat from a rehashed proposal from 2013 which aims to build 136 houses on greenbelt land off Landywood Lane.
"If built, this development will threaten the identity of the villages of Great Wyrley and Cheslyn Hay and inreversibly damage our greenbelt land."
If approved, the site would also include 90 park and ride spaces for Landywood station, 17 allotments and 23 acres of public park.
A total of 22 of the 136 homes would be classed as affordable.
At a public exhibition of the plans, held at Great Wyrley Community Centre, last month, Nigel Farmer, planning consultant representing KGL, said: "If we get planning consent for this then that will meet the local need until 2030 so there couldn't be any further development.
"We asked South Staffordshire Council if we could develop the 80 homes at Teddesley Estate but they would not support that."
Similar plans for the site, by developers KGL Holdings run by local businessman Ken Lees, were rejected less than two years ago, after 4,000 people protested against the build.
Last time the bid, for 141 homes, ended up in the High Court after South Staffordshire District Council vetoed it but the developer lost his legal challenge.
Undeterred, the developer resolved to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate but changed his mind.
Mr Lees, director of the Cannock-based company, said his decision not to proceed with an appeal had been taken on the advice of the firm's legal consultant.
