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West Midlands homes proposal is 'too damaging'

More than half a million homes could be built in the West Midlands by 2026, according to a revised regional spatial strategy published this week.

The Regional Assembly's proposal had originally proposed some 381,000 homes and the Campaign to Protect Rural England has said this confirmed the government's pressure for much higher house building in the West Midlands. 

If the Regional Assembly accepts the government's figures the impact would vary across the West Midlands but would include:

• a reduction in the proportion of housing built on brownfield land from 80% to nearer 60%
• the loss of about 14,600 acres – almost 23 square miles – of open land
• the loss of significant areas of Green Belt.

The CPRE also claims the damage will encourage more people to migrate from the area, already running at over 12,000 per year.

Gerald Kells, regional policy officer for CPRE West Midlands, said, “This is not the way to provide homes in the West Midlands for those who really need them.  It's a recipe for indiscriminate greenfield development, social polarisation and countryside destruction.”

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