Issue - meetings

The Strategic Planning and Conservation Manager presented Bromsgrove District Council’s Approach to the Draft Black Country Plan.

Members were advised that the draft Black Country Plan was at an early stage in the Local Plan process.  The plan was being developed for the four local authorities in the Black Country area and was therefore a relatively lengthy document.  In respect of the duty to co-operate, the housing and employment needs for the Black Country were significant, with the four authority areas unable to accommodate 30,000 of the additional houses required.  This meant that those houses needed to be accommodated elsewhere but there was uncertainty about where these houses would be located and when they would need to be developed.  In the draft Black Country Plan it was noted that the houses would need to be developed across the Housing Market Area (HMA) but the land that could potentially be used to accommodate some of the houses in Bromsgrove District had been rejected in that plan for this purpose.  A development of 115 houses was proposed for a site north of Hagley, though some issues had been identified with how the site had been assessed, the infrastructure that would be available and the implications for the green belt.  Therefore, Bromsgrove District Council was commenting that the evidence to support the allocations proposed in the draft Black Country Plan was not robust.

Under the duty to co-operate, Bromsgrove District Council would welcome further opportunities to enter into dialogue with the local authorities in the Black Country regarding the content of the Black Country Local Plan.  It was anticipated that a further update on the plan would be available for consideration in summer 2022.

RECOMMENDED that the Council endorses the officer response to the Draft Black Country Plan and that it is confirmed with the Black Country Authorities as such.