I would like to begin by thanking everyone for their attendance this evening and in particular thank the organising committee under the Chairmanship of David Smith for bringing us all together once again.
I am still very much hoping to join you all this evening, but I am grateful for being given the opportunity to have a statement read to you all as your Member of Parliament.
Whilst in recent weeks my commitment to the Green Belt has been questioned, I would very much hope that residents from right across Aldridge-Brownhills know that my commitment to fight the current Government’s planning policy remains relentless and undiminished.
At Business Questions last week in the House of Commons I raised specifically with the Leader of the House the need to have a debate in Government time to discuss the fact that there are 1.4 million developments approved, but unbuilt, there is capacity for 1.2 million homes on brownfield land and there are 750,000 empty homes across the country amounting to more than 3 million houses more than double the Government’s housing target without having to destroy a single blade of grass on our precious Green Belt.
Indeed, I wrote to the Prime Minister the day after he assumed office and the Chancellor of the Exchequer asking for a review of the housing targets and the reinstatement of Government support to allow local authorities to be able to remediate brownfield land to protect the Green Belt.
I have today signed off another letter to them both asking why residents of Aldridge-Brownhills are been disrespected because after 58 days they have failed to respond to me and consequently to all of you.
Nobody has ever been against the need for more homes. Indeed, we all want to see the next generation being able to get on the housing ladder and take the advantages of the generations which went before them. But we need the right homes, in the right places and at the right price to be able to fulfil that ambition.
In the many consultations which have been held by speculative developers for several sites in this constituency they all make great play of affordable housing. However, it is worth noting that the average spend by a first-time buyer across England stands at £205,246. Average house prices in large parts of Aldridge-Brownhills are higher than the West Midlands average and the English average and typically average house prices across Aldridge-Brownhills are between 51% and 110% higher than the West Midlands average. That is not providing affordable homes, this is providing maximum yield for the developer.
We are now at the business end of the process of Walsall Borough Council preparing their Local Plan.
Whilst the consultation on Regulation 19 was due to start on Monday of this week it was delayed by seven days to facilitate the Council’s Cabinet receiving recommendations from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
As part of the Cabinet meeting last night whilst reapproving their proposed Local Plan I am aware that they will be writing to me and the other Members of Parliament covering Walsall to raise this matter once again with Ministers. I will do this happily to maintain the drum beat against these obscene housing targets.
When the Local Plan consultation starts on Monday 21st September I have to be clear with all of you I am only one voice in this process. Whilst I will continue to use all available means at my disposal to oppose these targets, whether in Parliament, through my social media channels or through petitions I also need all of you to send in your comments to Walsall Borough Council as part of our coordinated campaign to oppose this plan.
It is important that you are all aware that the Regulation 19 consultation is different to the previous Regulation 18 consultation carried out in 2025. At this stage comments are limited to those relating to the soundness of the Council’s proposed plan.
The process for preparing and adopting a local plan is set out in law under planning regulations.
This is because at this stage of the plan process the consultation will be about the legal soundness of that plan.
The consultation will therefore focus on the following key questions:
– Has the council prepared the plan positively?
– Is it justified and effective?
– Does it comply with national planning policy?
Whilst at last night’s Cabinet Meeting we were assured that the proposed plan meets all of these tests I remain concerned that there are several areas with these proposals that are deficient and do not sufficiently pass the test that will become the focus of the Planning Inspector at the public enquiry which will take place in either 2027 or 2028.
Now that the plan is approved it passes to all of us for a 6-week consultation, but then it will go to the Inspector. The Inspector will then determine the soundness of the plan based upon the evidence contained within it. At the heart of that proposed development on the Green Belt will be the most complex examination and the Inspector will seek to bear down upon whether a Local Authority has sought to chase a submission deadline at the expense of evidence and soundness.
The Cabinet have agreed to offset 6,000 proposed homes of their overall target to other Local Authorities. However, the report acknowledges that there is further work to be done in this area. I am concerned that as there are no plans in place at this stage of going to the Regulation 19 consultation and that this places the Borough in a weak negotiating position with other Local Authorities and without this in place we will also be in a weak position with the Planning Inspector.
I am also concerned that the allocation of employment land is disproportionate to the population on the eastern side of the Borough where the largest concentration of housing is being proposed. The hoarding of land for these purposes inevitably puts more pressure on the use of the Green Belt.
Across both Wolverhampton and Coventry large numbers of their targets have been offset by town centre housing, because they have recognised that allocating Green Belt land on the edges of a conurbation inevitably pulls investment away from the urban centre and the prospects of regeneration. Indeed, I am also concerned that with new powers to be awarded to Metro Mayors over regeneration will mean the Borough puts itself at a disadvantage to be able to receive its share of future funding.
This proposed Local plan puts us in danger of being built out to Staffordshire in one direction, Walsall in another and Birmingham in another and before we know it, we will be subsumed into a Greater Birmingham, something which flies in the face of planning policy and is something we must all resist, but as we are at the business end of this process we must resist emotion in our responses to the Council and we must ensure that we make our arguments based upon process.
Everyone in this room this evening knows that this Government’s top-down housing targets are flawed. Making areas such as Walsall Borough do more heavy lifting compared with areas such as Birmingham is utter madness and it is perverse.
But if we are to have these housing targets then that is a reason why we need to look again at this proposed Local Plan. And given that the new homes we are assured are to assist first-time buyers get on the property ladder, then they need to be more affordable and in more appropriate locations by building out all brownfield sites and adding potential employment land to the plan.
In more than 10 years as your Member of Parliament I have always sought to defend our Green Belt and that mission is undiminished. I stand shoulder to shoulder with all the residents across our local area in your opposition to this abomination of a Local Plan which will destroy large parts of our community.
In reality it is a smash and grab raid on our Green Belt, and I will work with all of you to help defend our Green Belt, but I ask you all to work with me and make your representations to Walsall Council from next Monday.
Thank you all very much indeed.
With Best Wishes,
Wendy