Eyesore sites to be brought back into use to protect green belt
Plans have been drawn up to bring 24 eyesore sites in the borough back into use as part of continued plans to protect the green belt from developers.
A working group was set up with councillors and officers that identified a long list of 65 derelict brownfield sites which could be brought back into use.
Collectively the sites could deliver up to 500 new homes.
The group has now identified from that list a shortlist of 24 it will be working on in the next tranche of the scheme.
They include land at Cavell Road and Wolverhampton Street, Dudley, it is hoped both sites will house up to 40 homes.
Empty land at Enville Street, Stourbridge which has progressed through the programme has recently sold with benefit of planning permission for 10 homes.
And a long derelict row of shops on Colley Gate, Halesowen has been bulldozed, tidied up and hoarded off ready for eventual sale.
Councillor Paul Bradley, deputy leader of the council, said:
“Our stalled sites programme is looking to target land which has been long term derelict, untidy or where development has stalled.
“We have always been clear that our approach to development is brownfield first, with green belt only used as a very last resort.
“This programme will reduce the pressure on our green spaces and preserve them for future generations, while bringing eyesore sites back into use which have been a blight on the landscape for far too long.”