‘Battle is won, but war rages on’ for Dudley’s local plan
Dudley council is back at work on a replacement local plan, just weeks after adopting the current one, in a bid to meet revised government targets.
Councillors in the borough voted to formally adopt the its 2041 local plan earlier this month, a document which had been rendered almost instantly out of date by revised government housing targets introduced by the incoming Labour government in 2024.
Dudley had a house building target of around 650 homes per year, but saw the figure more than double to 1,594 homes under the new calculation method – a figure referred to as “unachievable” by the authority, whose leader Cllr Patrick Harley wrote to Housing Minister Angela Rayner to express “serious concerns” in 2024.
“There is simply not the land supply available. Even if we allocated all available green belt, greenfield and brownfield land we would not get anywhere near it,” he said.
“It is overambitious, unachievable, and would lead to the loss of great swathes of green land valued by so many in our borough.”
The council has launched a call for sites alongside its consultation, with both set to run until 30m September.
Further information on the consultation and call for sites is available on Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council’s website.
