PROTESTORS are calling for a public inquiry in a last-ditch bid to save Hagley countryside from bulldozer destruction.

A 30 acre site at Treherns Farm, Worcester Lane, is earmarked for conversion to sports pitches in a development which campaigners say would rob the region of valuable greenbelt land.

Dudley Council planners have already given permission for the project to go ahead and work can begin once an order has been granted to stop-up two public rights of way which run across the land.

Campaigners including Pedmore Councillor Les Jones are calling on people to register their objections to the footpath closures during a consultation period.

Cllr Jones said: "I would like to see a public inquiry refuse to close public footways, people from everywhere who like to go walking should see this as their problem.

"People need to know what they are objecting to, the argument has got to be about the effects of stopping up a public right of way, the more people object - the more likely it is to go to a public inquiry.

"It is Treherns Farm this week, how many others will go the same way?"

The controversial scheme, by Oldswinford Hospital School in partnership with Haybridge High School, Hagley, sparked concern development could be the first step towards new building on the land.

The Heath Lane school, which owns the site and says the new facilities are required as pupil numbers increase, was quick to deny plans for further building were on the agenda.

Notices are set to go up around the site soon before the four-week consultation begins.

After the consultation, council officers will prepare a report for central government inspectors who will make a decision about the site, including whether a public enquiry is necessary.

A spokesman for Dudley Council said: "Following a planning decision in August last year for development, notices on the site and in the press over the coming weeks will advertise proposed changes to the public rights of way network and how objections or representations can be made."