Plan To Build Extra Houses Threatens Worcestershire Villages

1.09.55pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 7th Aug 2006

Plans to build nearly half a million new homes in the West Midlands over the next twenty years, including around 10,000 in Worcester,could mean the loss of greenbelt and threaten medieval settlements like Hallow and Lower Broadheath, warns West Worcestershire's Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate, Richard Burt.

The West Midlands Regional Assembly is consulting local councils on new plans that could add up to 194,000 extra properties in market towns and cities across the region.

"This massive increase in house building targets means that councils could be forced by Government to allow development on land that acts as a green lung around cities like Worcester. On the west of the city, the ancient medieval settlements of Hallow and Lower Broadheath could be gobbled up by new housing development and road building.

"Such a rapid expansion would overtake efforts to develop derelict brownfield sites in areas like East Birmingham, the Black Country and North Staffordshire, opening the floodgates for cheaper greenbelt development in market towns and cities. Given a choice, developers will always take the easy profits offered by building on greenbelt.

"The focus must be maintained on breathing new life and building new communities in decaying urban areas before moving into the countryside.

"There is no questioning that new homes have to be built, but such rapid expansion would mean losing control of the planning process, resulting in an exodus of people from the city to the countryside," said Mr Burt.