A MAJOR housing blueprint for Worcester has been given the green light despite a number of reservations from the city’s councillors.
Members of Worcester City Council voted to endorse the revised South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP), a joint plan with district councils in Malvern and Wychavon which has earmarked 28,370 homes across the area by 2030.
Once implemented, the SWDP will ensure local councils like Worcester will have a greater say in sites where houses can be built.
But despite giving the plan the green light and endorsing a consultation period, a number of members raised their objections and raised the spectre of a future ‘Greater Worcester’.
Labour’s Coun Richard Boorn was outspoken in his opposition to the plan and claimed the city council had been ‘sold down the river’.
“The existing roads have to cope with the traffic from all those houses without any solution on offer,” he said.
“The number (of homes) in the plan is now pretty much the same as the old Regional Spatial Strategy, so half a million pounds later we’ve come up with the same answer. Money well spent? I think not.”
His comments were echoed by Coun Roger Berry who highlighted the rush-hour traffic members encountered to reach the meeting as an indication of how bad congestion already was.
“Imagine what it’ll be like in 10 years when we’ve got a ‘Greater Worcester’ with another 20,000 people here,” he added
Deputy leader, Coun Marc Bayliss, said unless the SWDP was adopted Worcester risked many more ‘Battenhall Farm’ scenarios.
“I don’t agree that it’ll make Worcester a dormitory town, there’s employment sites in the plan too – Birmingham’s view for us to become a bed and breakfast hotel is not one I share,” he added.
Although the plan was approved, nine councillors voted against the motion.
Visit www.swdevelopmentplan.org for more information about the consultation which runs until Friday, November 20.
