Dudley Council submits plans for 10,500 new homes - but green spaces will be 'protected'

Councillor Patrick Harley, leader of Dudley Council, said 97 per cent of the housing proposed in the borough's local plan would be built on brownfield land.

But the plan, which is 700 short of the housing target set by the Government, will still need to be approved by Housing, Local Government and Communities Secretary Angela Rayner.

A decision is expected later this year.

But Councillor Harley said he was confident the plan would be adopted following a precedent set in Wirral, where the Government this month accepted a 'brownfield only' plan, despite it being 3,000 homes short of targets. 

Wirral is believed to be the first council in the country to get a blueprint approved using a brownfield-only approach to house building.

If approved, the plan will give comfort to people living in areas of Kingswinford and Wall Heath which had previously been identified as under threat.

Councillor Harley said the news of the Wirral Plan was hugely important.

“It shows that a brownfield-first approach, which protects the green belt from development, can pass the litmus test with the Secretary of State and get over the line.

“It has been approved despite being nearly 3,000 short of the government’s recommended figure for the amount of houses being built there.

“Ours is nowhere near that – we are only around 700 short.

“So I am hugely confident that our plan, which is robust, will get the green light from the government. It will allow us to deliver on our promises to do all we can to protect the borough’s green spaces from developers.”

It is expected that hearings to consider the plan will take place in the summer, with a decision expected towards the end of the year.

It lays out plans to build 10,470 homes by 2041, with 97 per cent on brownfield sites and three per cent on greenfield.

There is no proposed release of green belt – which makes up just over 18 per cent of land in the borough - to meet the demand.