Calls to rethink Black Country Plan amid claims residents are confused

The Black Country Plan, first drafted in 2017, aims to identify land suitable for regeneration and provide housing and employment opportunities across the Black Country.

It also aims protect green belt land from developers.

The Government projects the Black Country will need over 76,000 new homes over the next 20 years. It also needs 560 hectares of land to accommodate new jobs by 2039 – equivalent to 835 football fields.

Councillor Judy Foster, deputy leader of the opposition on Dudley Council, has called on the council to suspend consultation on the Black Country Plan. The call follows continuing confusion over which sites are to be included in the proposals.

She said: "By the time the consultation started on Monday, I had already been provided with incorrect information regarding which sites were to be included three times.

“I began getting calls from residents about conflicting information within the online documents and how difficult they are to navigate.

“Other wards are affected too. Residents are already concerned about proposals to sell off their precious green spaces, and now the consultation process itself is proving to be unfit for purpose.

“It is totally unacceptable and Dudley residents deserve much better.”

Councillor Cathy Bayton, whose portfolio includes the Black Country Plan, said: “I have undertaken a review of the documentation and found anomalies not only in Brockmoor and Pensnett ward, but my own ward.

“Building work has already started, yet they are also included in the consultation plan, which is pointless.

“There are also problems navigating the online consultation and it is difficult to find some of the sites that are known to have been considered for inclusion, all of which is likely to put residents off participating.

“The only solution is to pause the consultation until these issues are sorted.”

Councillor Khurshid Ahmed, spokesperson for regeneration and enterprise, said: “Under this Conservative council, the whole exercise has become chaotic, lacks transparency, and totally undermines confidence in the process.

“No doubt as always, the politicians will blame the officers for this, but it is the Conservatives who are in charge, it is they who have set a policy that enables development of precious green spaces, and it is they who have signed off the consultation process as fit for purpose.

“So it’s their problem and they have got to fix it."

Councillor Patrick Harley, leader of Dudley Council, said: “It’s incredible that two Labour councils with the same plans and timetable move ahead without any issues yet here in Dudley we have such an ineffective Labour group that cannot even understand documents their own frontline spokespersons helped put together.

“Shadow Labour regeneration members attended majority of meetings that put the documents and timetable together.

“It’s also unbelievably naive of Councillor Foster to request a delay. Any delay just continues the speculative development of our greenbelt which Labour say they wish to protect.

“Labour just don’t get it, which was reinforced by the party line voting on last night’s development control meeting where a brownfield site was passed for a 70+ housing development.

“All Labour councillors present voted against our brownfield first policy.

“Without these kinds of brownfield developments more green belt will be put at risk, but Labour continue to play games with people’s fears and the future of values greenbelt and open spaces.”