A former Burntwood councillor has warned a clampdown is needed on “get rich quick developers” targeting green belt sites.
Eric Drinkwater stepped down from roles as a Labour councillor on Lichfield District Council and Burntwood Town Council at the local elections.
But he believes councillors and residents must continue to be on their guard after senior Conservative MP Liz Truss said a million homes should be built on green belt land to solve the UK’s housing shortage.
Mr Drinkwater said the plan was “totally unacceptable”.
“In August 2007, like all other local authorities, Lichfield District Council officers and elected members commenced the process of consulting and negotiating the Local Plan,” he said.
“This is designed to inform which developments can take place up until 2029 across the whole district. The plan was inspected by the Government Planning Inspectorate and except for some minor amendments, was declared legally compliant and sound – this included no development on Green Belt land.
“Do we live in a democracy or not? After years of hard work by officers and councillors up jumps Liz Truss and declares that there are to be one million houses built on green belt land.
“This is totally unacceptable and she should be examining all other options that are available at least until 2029 when our existing Local Plan expires.”
Burntwood has seen a number of high profile battles to prevent green belt developments in recent years.
And Mr Drinkwater believes other housing solutions can be found.
“There are plenty of brownfield sites left and lots of empty properties lying idle that could be compulsory purchased,” he said. “I am sure there could be enough properties found in this way to build the accommodation required.
“We need to stop get rich quick developers dictating what and where it will be built and start building for need not greed.”
