Housing estate ‘size of village’ planned on green belt Wolverhampton land
Controversial plans for 600 new homes on greenbelt land in Wolverhampton have provoked opposition from thousands of residents.
Housing giant Barratt Homes has outlined proposals to develop a massive housing estate on the Pennwood site in Blakenhall – prompting a 6,500-strong public petition and a city councillor’s promise to resign if the move goes ahead.
The land identified is located between the rear of the Ramada Park Hall hotel and Colton Hills Community School, both in Goldthorn Park, and stretches all the way down to Penn Common.
Councillor Paul Birch said a development of this scale would be “catastrophic” for Blakenhall, and has pledged to quit his role as a councillor if the plans go ahead.
“Six hundred new homes is off the scale,” he said.
“The population of Blakenhall is presently 9,000 people. 600 more homes with an average of two children would increase its size by a quarter and potentially put another 1,200 cars on the road, each of them trying to access Goldthorn Hill/Wolverhampton Road East every morning.
“The west of Wolverhampton would come to a grinding halt. It would need a brand new primary school and a doubling in size of Colton Hills Community School, which already has 1,500 pupils.
“Considering this, the demand on health centres in the area and access to schools alone would be massive.
“With this type of housing project, the developers build the houses more or less on top of each other with tiny little pockets of land in between promising garden space.
“The pressure it would put on the Northway, Birmingham New Road and Sedgley would be immense. The Fighting Cocks would need a flyover. There’s no way it would survive. The whole thing would be catastrophic,” he added.
“This development plan also falls entirely in Blakenhall. No share of it now is in South Staffs – parts of which were previously being looked at under the Seven Cornfields proposals.
“We have submitted an official residents’ 6,500-name petition against the plans to the city council, as well as an additional 2,500 hand-written signatures.
“MP Pat McFadden has also drawn up a 350-page document of submissions on behalf of Goldthorn Park residents.
“I have said – and maintain – that if this goes through then I will resign,” said Councillor Birch.
The proposals from the Wolverhampton-based developer forms part of the Black Country Plan pinpointing locations for new homes, shops and offices up to 2038.
A recent review by each of the Black Country authorities has identified a potential housing need of more than 70,000 new homes between now and 2038.
Barratt Homes’ prospectus outlining the plans says: “The Pennwood site is privately owned and currently has limited access to the public.
“We believe there is an opportunity to promote a landscape-led scheme which protects and enhances its environment.”
Accounting for delays due to the pandemic, the estimated timeline for delivering on the Black Country Plan has been drawn up by each of the local authorities as follows;
Consultation on draft plan (August-September); consultation on published plan (August-September 2022); submission of the plan (March 2023); examination in public (April 2023-March 2024); adoption of the plan (April 2024).
