Sutton’s MP has met developers to discuss their proposals for a new residential complex in Staffordshire to discuss how their plans might impact on the need to build on Sutton’s Green Belt.
Andrew Mitchell, who has spearheaded the campaign to save our Green Belt alongside local Councillors and Sutton activists, held a meeting with Barratt Developments on their proposed development, Brookhay. Based on the Garden City principles, its aim is to create a sustainable community with its own thriving economy. The proposals could deliver 8300 homes, with the aim being to contribute to the regional housing requirement emanating from Birmingham. The proposals have also been developed to unlock substantial infrastructure investment, delivering improvements to the A38; two new train stations re-introducing passenger trains between Burton and Lichfield; and 150,000sqm of high quality work spaces.
Located between Lichfield and Burton upon Trent, the Brookhay concept features two distinct but complementary areas – Brookhay Garden Village and Brookhay Waterside, positioned around the existing National Memorial Arboretum. Brookhay Garden Village could be a sustainable new place of up to 7,500 homes, new schools, a bustling centre and accessible open space. Brookhay Waterside could be a hive of activity, boosting job-creating industry, hotels, apartments, sports and leisure facilities. Around 77% of the Brookhay site will have been worked for mineral extraction prior to development taking place. The lakes left behind by the minerals industry will form a key element of the design, with the opportunity to create a regionally-significant Watersports Centre.
Sutton’s MP has consistently demanded that alternative solutions are found to building on Sutton’s Green Belt, and has particularly focused on the need to find innovative solutions to the use of brownfield sites. As such he feels that any potential development that provide an alternative to building on the Green Belt should be fully investigated. Speaking after the meeting Andrew Mitchell said “I will follow this development with interest. Any proposal that provides a good solution to the housing pressure in the Birmingham area while preserving Sutton’s Green Belt should be explored thoroughly”.