A MAJOR plan to identify housing land in Dudley borough is targeting Kingswinford, Stourbridge, Sedgley and Gornal's greenbelt land.

A draft copy of The Black Country Plan has been released which is to be discussed by the council’s cabinet on July 5.

They will be asked to formally agree a period of public consultation on the plans before a further report to cabinet.

The plan proposes to provide around 47,837 homes with 7,720 of those homes to be built on greenbelt land in the Black Country

In the draft plan consultation, it states that 6 percent of greenbelt in the Black Country will be removed for development.

It says: "The Black Country councils have attached great importance to the Green Belt and the role that it plays in defining our urban area.

"For that reason, the current boundaries have been drawn tightly around the urban edges of our area. Due to the need for homes across the Black Country, it means that exceptional circumstances apply to alter those boundaries.

"To help meet our future housing and employment land needs, there is an exceptional circumstance to alter the boundaries."

In Dudley, 13,325 are proposed to built - 1,117 homes on greenbelt land, amounting to three percent of the total greenbelt land in the borough.

The following land has been earmarked for development:

533 homes on land at Swindon Road and Lodge Lane in Wall Heath

330 homes on land south of Holbeache Lane and Wolverhampton Road in Kingswinford.

115 homes on Worcester Road, Stourbridge

90 homes on grazing land at Wollaston Farm, Stourbridge

25 homes on lower Guys Lane, Lower Gornal

24 homes on land off Viewfield Crescent, Dudley

MPs have expressed their concerns of the proposed developments. MP for Dudley South Mike Wood said there is no need, MP for Dudley North Marco Longhi called it appalling and MP for Stourbridge Suzanne Webb said we 'need to protect our landscape.'

The plan and report can be viewed here.