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Local Plan background documents - Green Belt

Green Belt Study – Introduction

A Brief History of the Wyre Forest Green Belt

The current Green Belt (GB) in Wyre Forest District Council (WFDC) was determined by the 1989 Urban Areas Local Plan and arose from the wider West Midlands Green Belt definition. Subsequent reviews of the WFDC Plan were made in 1994, 2004 and 2010. These typically did not identify the need for any adjustment except around some of the larger villages. Within WFDC, the extent of the GB includes all the land as far west as the River Severn, but excludes the towns of Kidderminster, Stourport-on-Severn and Bewdley and the smaller settlements of Blakedown, Cookley and Fairfield.

Green Belt Definition

National Planning Policy Framework (para 134) defines the purpose of Green Belt via five criteria:

to check the unrestricted sprawl of large built up areas;
to prevent neighbouring towns merging into one another;
to assist in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment;
to preserve the setting and special character of historic towns; and
to assist in urban regeneration, by encouraging the recycling of derelict and other urban land.

Green Belt does not therefore have a landscape protection role.

Green Belt Review

The need for this Green Belt review has arisen from two key drivers:

a) the currently adopted Local Plan is under review. This review takes account of the implementation of the National Planning Policy Framework (and its associated Practice Guidance notes). This demands that all policies contained in a Local Plan are based on sound, recent evidence.

b) the need to be able to balance housing and other development and to ensure it can be sustainably located and readily served by infrastructure and supporting services. Now that much of the brownfield land in Wyre Forest has been developed other areas for development have had to be explored by this Plan Review.

The status of the Green Belt Study on these web pages is that it is part of the evidence base for the Local Plan Review.

A Green Belt Review can only be made through the Local Plan Review process and as such it will be subjected to consultation at two stages, namely Preferred Options and Pre-Submission. It will also be considered at the Local Plan Examination.

This study does not therefore constitute the review of the Green Belt – rather it informs the review.

Wyre Forest Green Belt Review - Strategic Analysis (September 2016) (10,366K)

Wyre Forest Green Belt Review Part II Analysis of Sites Update (May 2018) (3,847K)

Appendix C - Site by Site Analysis (May 2018) (11,476K)

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