Houndsfield Lane: Plan to build new homes on green belt land rejected

A planning application to build 50 new homes and a community-use building on land off Houndsfield Lane was put forward by Your Land Partner and submitted to Bromsgrove District Council last year.

It was proposed that 26 homes would be affordable, while the remainder would be sold at market price.

Wythall Parish Council previously objected to the proposal, considering the development of new buildings in the green belt to be "inappropriate," with council planners recommending the plan for refusal.

The application went before Bromsgrove District Council's planning committee earlier this month and was subsequently refused.

Green belt land off Houndsfield Lane (Image: Google)

During the meeting, applicant Brynley Little said: "It has been more than two years since a new major application has been consented by this authority and despite acknowledging the need to build on green belt land a five year review has yielded nothing. Continued delays are only making matters worse. 90 per cent of land in the district is Green Belt compared to a 12 per cent average across England.

"The ongoing under supply of housing in Bromsgrove alone represents exceptional circumstances and no other reasons exist to refuse this application.

"Justifying approval of this site without undermining green belt purposes is entirely possible". 

As part of the decision notice, Bromsgrove District Council said the proposal would "result in a detrimental impact on openness of the green belt due to its scale and location and conflict with the green belt's purposes."

They added: "The proposed form of the development is considered incompatible with its countryside setting, compromising that setting and fundamentally eroding the form, character and setting of the site in the wider landscape".