Object

Representation ID: 4957

Received: 13/12/2022

Respondent: Persimmon Homes West Midlands

Agent: RPS Group

Legally compliant? Yes

Sound? No

Duty to co-operate? Not specified

RPS agrees that exceptional circumstances exist to justify the release of green belt land for housing. This is because, as stated at paragraph 5.3 of the SSLP, opportunities to locate development on brownfield sites is ‘very limited’ due to the largely rural nature of the District. However, RPS considers that the Council can, and should, go much further than its current proposals for altering the Green Belt. RPS contend that Land east
of Brookhouse Lane (site 170) is an appropriate site to be released for this purpose.

The assessment of site 170 as moderate harm in the Green Belt Study is incorrect as this assessment relates to the sub parcel rather than specifically site 170. Furthermore, the GBS does not take into account the emerging proposals for the Site set out in the illustrative masterplan in the Vision Document, which shows that a significant proportion of the Site will remain open and undeveloped as part of development.

The assessment does not reflect on all available and relevant information submitted in support of Site 170. On this basis, the assessment of contribution and harm applied by the Council to Site 170 is not robust and so is not soundly-based.

A site-specific Green Belt assessment has been undertaken on behalf of Persimmon Homes by Pleydell Smithyman Ltd (PSL) against the five purposes of Green Belt demonstrates that the site has a low harm rating. On this basis, Land east of Brookhouse Lane should be released from the Green Belt and allocated for housing in the SSLP.

As an alternative, RPS contend that it would be logical to identify site 170 for safeguarding in this local plan. The evidence presented in this submission shows that Site 170 would cause the least harm to the wider Green Belt than any other Green Belt site option considered at Featherstone.