Birmingham city planner challenges independent housing report
Dec 2 2008 by Paul Dale, Birmingham Post
An independent consultant’s report for the Government, which suggests building almost half a million new homes in the West Midlands by 2026, has been dismissed as “fundamentally flawed” by a senior Birmingham City Council planner.
The Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners study said the region’s local authorities could identify sufficient land to build 445,600 dwellings – a quarter more than councils believe is the maximum achievable without intruding into the green belt.
The study was ordered by the Government Office for the West Midlands following unprecedented intervention by Communities Minister Baroness Andrews, who is concerned that the West Midlands is not doing enough to meet national house building targets.
It claims that the additional development can be achieved without spoiling the countryside, a claim rejected by council leaders who fear a requirement to build so many new homes would see widespread growth in sought-after rural areas while brownfield sites in towns and cities are left to stagnate.
Birmingham City Council’s cabinet is backing a draft revision to the Regional Spatial Strategy, which if approved by a public inquiry next year would limit housing growth in the West Midlands to 365,000 new dwellings – including 50,600 in Birmingham.
David Bull, the council’s assistant director of development strategy, described the Nathaniel Lichfield study as a challengeable piece of work based on figures produced by the
