'Unfit for building': Councillor's concerns about proposed housing on contaminated land

It comes as Dudley Council set a date for when the proposed development - for 72 homes on land bordering Bourne Street and Cedar Avenue in Woodsetton - will be approved or rejected.

Councillor Adam Aston will speak against the proposals during the council's next planning meeting on Wednesday, August 18; where he will raise concerns about "horrendous contamination and mineshafts".

The site, which is surrounded by residential properties, was formerly an open cast coal workings before it became a tip between the 1950s and 1980s.

It is now filled with trees and overgrowth but beneath the surface is polluted with asbestos, methane and ground gas, according to planning documents.

Countryside Properties submitted a planning application to build 72 homes in September 2020, with developers proposing to cap the land.

Four years ago, Dudley Council rejected an outline planning application for the site in October 2017, at a time when more than 500 residents signed a petition against the plans.

However, developers made a successful appeal with the Government's Planning Inspectorate in March 2019, where they were subsequently granted outline planning permission.

If these latest plans are rejected by Dudley once again, developers can go through the same appeal process with the Government.

Upper Gornal and Woodsetton councillor Aston said: "Despite attempts by various developers over more than two decades, Dudley councillors have never approved the development of the site for housing.

"In my view, the horrendous contamination of the land as a result of the former use of the site for landfill - in addition to the extensive network of mineshafts beneath - renders it unfit for building homes.

"These concerns, in addition to overstretched local school and health provision, mean that an overwhelming majority of local residents oppose these plans, as do I."

Opposition has also been made by Dudley North MP Marco Longhi, who was planning to write to Dudley Council's chief executive and the Government's Housing Secretary in opposition.

He cited concerns about contamination and unstable mineshafts, too, and said that a planned urban forest for the area was previously rejected "as it was dangerous to disturb the soil".

The meeting of Dudley Council's Development Control Committee takes place at 6pm on Wednesday.