Dudley councillors warned of 'brain drain' due to lack of land for businesses

The council is set to launch a public consultation of the latest version of a draft local plan which will then be sent to the government for approval.

The plan sets out how much land will be set aside to provide room for business until 2041 but falls well short of what is required.

At a meeting of the council’s cabinet on September 25, Councillor Parmjit Sahota said: “There has been some moving of employment sites to housing, my concern is employment land is further reduced.

“It’s already been acknowledged we are not going to have enough to grow business.

“If we haven’t got enough employment land we could see Dudley businesses either moving or they can’t grow so there is a knock-on effect, you could have a brain drain.”

Councillors were told the latest version of the Black Country Economic Development Needs Assessment found Dudley needs 72 hectares of new employment land and the figure rises to 98 hectares when land lost to other uses is taken into account.

The draft local plan provides just 22.6 hectares and the council would look to neighbouring councils to provide more space under a legal duty to cooperate.

Dudley’s director of regeneration, Helen Martin, said: “It is a big issue, we will have to work with neighbours. A lot of them have issues with their employment land provision as well.

“We will also have to continue to look for sites but you can’t create land where it doesn’t exist.”

The draft plan also sets out what Dudley thinks it can do to build new homes in the borough.

The council believes it needs an extra 11,169 new homes to be built by 2041 to meet expected needs however the plan also says projections show it will only be able to add 10,474 new dwellings which leaves a shortfall of 695.

Based on these calculations the authority believes 657 new homes can be built in the borough per year.

The predicted growth in the number of new Dudley homes puts the council at odds with the latest target from the Labour government which has told the authority it expects 1,594 new homes every year.

The difference has already prompted the council’s leader, Councillor Patrick Harley, to describe the government’s target as ‘overambitious and unachievable’.

Councillor Harley told the cabinet: “We now face a bigger threat than ever to our greenbelt, I believe this plan is robust and will stand up to public examination and should be passed by the minister at the time.

“There is a threat that it won’t be and we have to realise if it doesn’t pass there is a real risk that great parts of our greenbelt and green spaces will be at risk.”

Councillor Harley urged councillors to lobby MPs and ministers with a message to pass the Dudley plan.

He added if the government imposed its target the borough’s green spaces were in danger of being ‘decimated’.