Public to be consulted on plan for future generations

People in Bromsgrove District are to get their latest say on local development plans to guide growth and improve the area for future generations.

It comes after Bromsgrove District councillors today (June 19) voted to send a draft Development Strategy to control long term growth in the area out to public consultation.

It sets out how a local plan could handle growth requirements up to 2043. Set by the Government, those requirements include the need for approximately 9,000 new homes and the infrastructure to support that.

A 12-week consultation to gather more information from the community will now start next Monday (June 30), to include public events across the district at dates and locations to be confirmed.

It means residents and stakeholders like the NHS and education, utility, and transport providers will be able to respond to the planning issues, such as the locations of development and needs for sufficient services, facilities, and infrastructure.

Bromsgrove District Council’s Cabinet Member for Planning, Cllr Kit Taylor, said: “This consultation is to check the long-term strategy is on the right track. As part of our duty to plan for these Government-imposed future housebuilding targets, we are ensuring residents have this early and specially extended 12-week chance to say what they think the planning issues are, in an open and transparent way.

“The council only knows so much. We need residents and others to fill in the gaps with their knowledge about their areas, and thinking about future generations. For those who are thinking, why there, or why haven’t they included such and such a location, or what about X, Y and Z issues, this is the time to provide that information.”

It's the third out of five stages of consultation for Bromsgrove District’s next Local Plan, which is how people can influence how future growth requirements will be met. Two previous stages have gathered information, and two more are set to follow, with a ‘preferred options’ consultation in 2026 and then finally on an actual plan in 2028.

Local plans make it much harder for developments outside the plan to get planning permission. Planning authorities must adopt them by going through various stages of drafting and consultation, and then a final government inspection.

Cllr Taylor added: “This is the first sketch of what a plan could look like, drafted from the over 400 sites for building suggested by developers. It’s the start of a plan to keep our destiny in our own hands and in ways that we would want - not decided by developers and central government officials.”

From Monday June 30, residents will be able to access consultation materials at www.bromsgrove.gov.uk/BromsgrovePlan and at Alvechurch, Bromsgrove, Catshill, Hagley, Rubery, and Wythall libraries, with news on information events across the district to follow.