Image of new homes planned for Kinver's White Hill released

Trebor Developments has been working up plans to build 40 properties, including 16 affordable homes and two bungalows, on the four-acre site, overlooked by Kinver Edge beauty spot, which has been allocated for development in the South Staffs Local Plan.

Consultation events were held earlier this year in the village and now an outline application for the scheme has been officially submitted to South Staffordshire Council.

Mark Wright, of Trebor Developments, said: “We are pleased to submit the outline planning application for this very attractive site. We have taken the opportunity to refine the proposals following discussions with the parish council and with feedback received from the community consultation event held in February.

“Whilst this is an outline planning application, we want to set a context for a very high quality and desirable scheme.

"The proposed housing is set within landscape buffers, respects the key views towards Kinver Edge and retains all of the significant mature trees on the site. This will create a development that will integrate well with the village, whilst contributing towards the identified need for new housing in the area."

The plan, however, has met with stiff opposition from villagers.

Nearly 100 objections have so far been submitted regarding the proposed development which would comprise a mix of two, three and four bedroom homes including two maisonettes exclusively for people over 55.

Residents in the village say the development would ruin a much-loved and well-used area of countryside which is home to wildlife including badgers, foxes, hedgehogs, moles, field mice, bats, snakes, lizards, swallows, woodpeckers, buzzards, cuckoos and grasshoppers.

Described as an ancient meadow, the field is overlooked by the historic Kinver Rock Houses and The Staffordshire Way runs across the field next to the site and is well used by walkers.

Villagers have also expressed concerns about the strain extra homes and residents would put on services in Kinver such as schools, GP surgeries and public transport as well as raising fears about extra traffic and congestion that would be generated by the proposed development.

A spokesman for Kinver Green Belt Action Group, which has objected to the plan, said: "The development is near the Potters Cross junction. The roads which serve Potters Cross are narrow and therefore, with further extensive traffic, would no doubt increase if this application is allowed."

Fellow objector David Hudson added:"The local roads are already unable to cope with the increasing traffic; especially at Potters Cross before and after school. Access and exit from the site will be dangerous."

He said the proposed development site has never been ploughed and added: "It is a site of rare wildlife and plants. Deer feed there regularly.

"We love the open fields alongside White Hill that we have viewed for decades. We owe it to future generations that we fight to preserve them."

A heritage impact statement submitted to planners said it was considered "visual change in views northwards from the north-eastern tip of Kinver Camp, and changes to the setting of Potter’s Cross Farm, would result in very limited harm to these heritage assets" and the developers have said building 40 units on the land would have "minimal impact on the Potters Cross junction". It was, however, accepted concerns about the junction would have to be addressed if further homes were to be built on fields next to the existing proposed development site further down the line.

Kinver stalwart Charlie Sadler said in his objection letter that the current plan includes an access road through to the adjoining potential development site and he urged: "This should not form part of the scheme until the fate of the adjoining land has been democratically decided."

The plan is expected to go before the council's planning committee in the autumn.