Decision due on controversial Wolverhampton distribution centre on green space

The proposed distribution centre would be built on green space off Neachells Lane on the edge of Wolverhampton.

The plans also includes offices, more than 300 parking spaces and 60 lorry parking bays and a new entrance for lorries and cars off the busy and often congested Neachells Lane.

The 31-acre site is bordered by St Matthias School’s playing fields, a railway line and the Strawberry Lane Industrial Site and Neachells Lane opposite the Travis Perkins builders yard.

The former coal mine was later used as a landfill site and then ‘reclaimed’ in the 1990s as public open space.

The council added that there was, in fact, a “surplus” of open space in the Bilston area and “alternative uses that make better use of the land to provide resources for investment should be utilised.”

“The development will have substantial benefits to the economy, both through the direct capital investment during the construction phase, and through the creation of jobs during the operational stage, with the applicant estimating that the new facility have a workforce of between 320 to 535 employees,” a report by the council said.

The site is designated as a site of local importance for nature conservation and was included as part of an ‘urban forest’ project across the Black Country in the early 2000s designed to increase urban tree planting and create more woodlands for public use.

The plans submitted by Goold Estates more than a year ago will be decided by City of Wolverhampton Council’s planning committee at a meeting on March 25 after the item was pulled from January’s agenda at the last minute.

A handful of objections

A handful of objections were submitted against the plans with concerns over the loss of green space and increase in congestion and collisions.

The application said that just under half of the site would remain as ‘open’ space but some objectors said the remaining green space would be “minimal” and “practically unusable.”

The objections also raised questions over whether a huge distribution centre could be built elsewhere given the number of empty and dilapidated warehouses off Willenhall Road and in the surrounding area.

There were also concerns about the “huge and out of character” warehouse being seen over trees and overshadowing homes and gardens and the “cherished” green spaces which was home to many mature trees and wildlife including foxes, badgers, bats, shrews, and voles would be lost forever.

St Matthias School also raised concerns saying it would lead to an increase in noise – especially in the summer during exams – and the community would lose its only green space.

The school also said removing the Black Country Urban Forest went against it teaching students to respect and protect nature as well as its bid to bring in forest school and attention restoration therapy for its pupils – which required access to nearby wild space.

Recommendations to approve the site

A report by the council’s planning officers, which recommends the work be approved by councillors, said the distribution centre said the “significant” financial investment and jobs “outweighed” the loss of green space and environmental impact.

The impact on local roads would ‘not be severe’, the report also said.

“The proposal is capable of delivering exceptional strategic benefits resulting in significant financial investment and job creation, which can outweigh negative impacts on nature conservation and overall levels of open space provision,” the report said.

“The proposed access to the development would not conflict with transport and parking development plan policies, and would not result an unacceptable impact on highway safety, or neither would the residual cumulative impacts on the road network be severe.”

The same report says that to account for the loss of the green space, a legal agreement will be entered that sees £150,000 provided for a new children’s play area in Stowlawn and £550,000 for East Park.

The land was included in 2021 in the now scrapped Black Country Plan as a potential site for employment.

The most recent planning application for the land was submitted more than a decade ago and included plans for a driving range.

However, the plans were never decided and later withdrawn.