RESIDENTS in Brierley Hill have hit out at plans to build 39 new homes on a shopping centre car park which they say would be a blot on the landscape.

Grainrent Ltd, based on the Pensnett Trading Estate, Kingswinford, has applied to build a mix of one and three bedroom properties at the back of the Moor Centre Shopping Centre.

People living nearby, however, say the scheme - comprising one large, interconnected block of both flats and maisonettes – would ruin one of the oldest and most unspoilt parts of the town next to a conservation area.

Councillor Rachel Harris said: "I think it's ridiculous for that site."

She said the block, which would be up to four storeys high in places, would tower next to the landmark St Michael's Church and she added: "It's going to have an immense impact on the skyline."

Cllr Harris said she and fellow ward councillor Serena Craigie were "very concerned that removal of the parking area will have a direct impact on trade at the top end of the town" and she added: "There's a lot of smaller traders and they really rely on that car park and people coming and going.

"I know we need housing but we have already got outline plans for a development on the RDF site - we don't need it any closer to the town; it's just silly, and it's going to impact on the conservation area - it's just not in keeping with that little area."

Cllr Craigie added: "Brierley Hill has got enough flats. We need to attract more families into the town - and families need gardens."

Tim Lee, of Brierley Hill Civic Society, said the development would sit ill alongside the town's grade II listed old library and institute - and Bell Street which is one of the oldest streets in Brierley Hill.

He said: "It's just not appropriate. The society does not object to some development here providing it's no more than two storeys and not built as a single inpenetrable rampart wall. It's got to fit in with the surroundings.

"We don't have very many buildings like the church and institute - we have to preserve and cherish what we've got."

Prue Warne, of Bell Street, said the scheme would obliterate "the only pretty little part we've got left in Brierley Hill - while Brian Hamblin, also of Bell Street, branded the proposed development "an absolute abomination" - adding: "Brierley Hill deserves much better than this."

Dudley South MP Mike Wood has also objected to the scheme - saying it would "dominate the landscape and radically change the sense of history" attached to the area as well as causing the loss of much-needed free parking for shoppers as it would reduce the number of spaces from 169 to just 60.

However - Matt Pegg, asset manager for the Moor Centre which is managed by London & Cambridge Properties, says there would be ample space left for shoppers to park.

He added: "We introduced free parking for two hours in December last year, yet an independent analysis shows that even since then about 70 per cent of the car park remains empty.

“Although the change in parking charges has resulted in an increased parking demand, there is still significant spare capacity.”

He stressed the scheme would provide quality affordable homes for people in the area on an under-used parking facility and said the development would be sympathetic to the surrounding architecture, adding: "We want to take design elements from the Victorian villas on Bell Street and echo that."

A report on Dudley Council's planning website says the development, which would include 45 parking spaces for residents, would help to improve the infrastructure, act as a catalyst for further investment and redevelopment and even boost trade in town shops and businesses as residents of the proposed homes would likely spend within the community.

It also says construction of the scheme would generate jobs and opportunities for local people within the building trade.

The plans can be seen at the next Brierley Hill community forum, being held in the management suite at intu Merry Hill on September 7, and on Dudley Council's planning website; cllrs Harris and Craigie also hope to have them displayed at Brierley Hill Library.

People have until September 16 to air their views by writing to the council's planning department.