A PLANNING inspector has thrown out a bid to build new homes on green space on the Clockfields estate, Amblecote.

Dudley Council’s development control committee refused to grant permission for three detached four and five-bedroom homes with garages to be built on public open space and woodland, dubbed a wildlife haven, off Culverhouse Drive, in May 2022.

The planning committee’s decision went against that recommended by planning officers, however, and the landowner (Master Freight at Oldbury) appealed to the Government’s Planning Inspectorate in Bristol.

Residents on the estate have been awaiting nervously since January to find out if the planning inspector would uphold the decision made locally by Dudley Council.

More than 60 people objected to the original plan – with the campaign to preserve the site garnering support from Stourbridge MP Suzanne Webb and Andy Street, the Mayor of the West Midlands.

However, planning inspector John Felgate dismissed the appeal on Monday April 24 – it has been confirmed.

The news will be very much welcomed by campaigners who feared development of the land, a SLINC (Site of Local Interest for Nature Conservation) with preservation orders on the trees, could set a precedent for building on green spaces.

The inspector, however, concluded in his report: “The proposed development would result in the loss of part of a Site of Local Importance for Nature Conservation, and the loss of part of the local green spaces network. “ He said in the “absence of any clearly defined mitigation or compensation measures, or any means of ensuring those measures would be secured, the damage to the green network and to nature conservation” would conflict with various planning policies.

Dismissing the appeal, he said: “Although the development would bring a minor enhancement to the area’s character and appearance, this would not outweigh the harm that I have identified.”