WEST Midlands Mayor Andy Street has given his support to campaigners fighting to save the last remaining piece of ancient meadowland in Amblecote from being ripped up for new homes.

Mr Street recently visited Corbett Meadow, located behind Corbett Outpatients Centre, to hear about how a cross-party effort is being made to protect it from developers.

He said afterwards: “I fully support the Save The Corbett Meadow group in its aims of protecting this parcel of green space, which has been here for so many generations.

“My policy has always been ‘brownfield first’ – which means we should be building on the many, many old derelict industrial sites across the Black Country instead of green spaces.

“The policy does work – before the pandemic struck we were building record numbers of new houses, the vast majority of which were built on brownfield sites.

“And crucially, in the Black Country we have enough of these sites to make sure no green belt gets built on for at least a decade. That’s why I think Corbett Meadow should be protected.”

Mr Street was invited to visit the meadow by Conservative candidate for Amblecote, Kamran Razzaq, who said: “This is now the only remaining parcel of a natural meadow and natural green field site left in Amblecote and possibly one of a very few left within the Dudley borough.

“It is great to have Andy’s support, because he has shown that open spaces can be protected by building on brownfield first.”

The meadow, off Vicarage Road, is part of land that was gifted to the people of Stourbridge in 1892 by John Corbett, for the building of a hospital.

It appears on maps as early as the 15th century, with the same visible features as it has today; making it the last remaining piece of old Amblecote.

Stourbridge News: Corbett MeadowCorbett Meadow

The future of the site, however, remains uncertain as the Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the outpatients centre, owns the land and has listed it on a register of publicly-owned sites with potential for housing development.

And trust bosses confirmed in February this year that they had been in discussions with a developer regarding the future of the site, which has been used for grazing for decades.

Diane Wake, chief executive of the Dudley Group, said NHS guidance requires the disposal of any surplus assets and therefore the trust is required to sell the land and reinvest the money back into patient care.