REDDITCH MP Karen Lumley has held talks with civil servants in London to register her concerns over plans to build thousands of houses in Webheath.

The MP arranged the meeting in the wake of a planning inquiry into the borough’s local plan, which appears to give the green light to some 3,400 new homes in Bromsgrove district from Webheath up to Bentley, with approximately 2,800 going in at Foxlydiate and 600 at Brockhill.

She wanted to air her concerns to the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) before the summer Parliamentary recess.

Mrs Lumley said: “I have been saying for a long time now that Webheath is simply not the right place to build this number of houses, despite what the inspector says.

“Due to the onset of the Redditch Eastern Gateway project, many of the employment opportunities that become available over the next few years will not be near Webheath where the infrastructure is inadequate in any case. Jobs will however be very accessible to the Bordesley area, and in my view that is where this enormous number of houses ought to be centred.

“Officials listened to my point of view. They are now going to fully examine the issues involved before putting the arguments before a Government minister.”

She has also asked for Redditch’s Local Plan No. 4 (BORLP4), which provides a framework for future development in Redditch over the next 15 years, to be stopped in line with the 2016 Planning Act to enable a further examination of proposals regarding Bordesley.

This is up for public consultation until mid-September.