{"id":43024,"date":"2025-04-23T05:31:13","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T05:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/43024\/"},"modified":"2025-04-23T05:31:13","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T05:31:13","slug":"new-homes-approved-next-to-m5-in-oldbury-despite-pollution-cancer-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/43024\/","title":{"rendered":"New homes approved next to M5 in Oldbury despite pollution \u2018cancer risk\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sandwell Council\u2019s<\/a> planning committee rejected an application to build a mix of flats and homes on a much-loved \u2018wildlife corridor\u2019 off Titord Road next to the Asda supermarket and M5 in Oldbury<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But a government inspector has now overruled the Black Country local authority following an appeal by developer Countryside.<\/p>\n

The government inspector approved the plan, overruling Sandwell Council, saying that pollution levels would be \u2018well within limits’.<\/p>\n

Sandwell councillors rejected the plan in February 2024 over fears that future residents would be subject to toxic pollution from not only the M5 but Wolverhampton Road and Titford Road \u2013 with the predicted level of poisonous fumes from the busy roads breaching illegal levels for families by the time they moved onto the new estate.<\/p>\n

The \u2018fine\u2019 pollution particles \u2013 otherwise known as particulate matter or PM2.5 because of their less than 2.5-micrometre diameter \u2013 contain microscopic solids and liquids that can get deep into lungs. It is linked to cancer, heart disease, asthma, and low birth weight.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe proposed layout of a 60-home plan next to the M5 in Oldbury. The homes would be built on a 100-year-old wildlife corridor that was protected following a campaign by locals to stop warehouses being built on the green space. Image: Countryside Homes<\/p>\n

The Environment Act 2021 sets future targets to reduce the level of PM2.5 to 10 \u03bcg\/m\u00b3 by December 2040, with an \u2018interim\u2019 target of 12 \u03bcg\/m\u00b3 by January 2028. Exposure to the public needs to be cut by at least 35 per cent by 2040 and 22 per cent by 2028.<\/p>\n

The inspector said the council\u2019s public health department had said the new homes \u201cwould not by [themselves] make existing pollution concentrations significantly worse\u201d and an air quality assessment said impact would be \u201cnegligible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The predicted PM2.5 levels of 7.41\u03bcg\/m\u00b3 would be \u201cwell within the limit\u201d according to the inspector. The proposed pollution levels on the land next to the M5 in 2028 \u2018would be within the interim target\u2019 to cut levels by 2040, the inspector\u2019s report said.<\/p>\n

The move to reduce exposure \u2013 to what has been called the \u2018most damaging pollutant to human health\u2019 \u2013 by more than a fifth by 2028 was a \u201cnational\u201d not individual target for housing developments.<\/p>\n

Despite anxiety from colleagues at Sandwell Council\u2019s environmental health department about the dangerous and harmful levels of pollution, the authority\u2019s planners recommended ahead of the meeting in February last year that the application should be given the green light.<\/p>\n

The committee\u2019s rejection decision was met with applause from residents who had opposed the move.<\/p>\n

Members of the committee, including Councillor Liam Preece, said he was \u201cdeeply uncomfortable with asking people to move into a place that is toxic or unsafe and will likely remain that way in the future”.<\/p>\n

Langley ward councillor Bill Gavan said traffic in the area was a \u201cnightmare\u201d and the air quality was \u201cdisgusting”.<\/p>\n

However, the rejection and the deemed unsuitability of the land from councillors comes after the council already earmarked the space as a potential site for new homes in the not-yet-approved Sandwell Local Plan \u2013 a housing blueprint drawn up in recent years by the council following the collapse of the Black Country Plan in 2022.<\/p>\n

Sandwell Council\u2019s planners had said the new homes would be \u201can appropriate reuse of brownfield land which would deliver a much-needed mix of affordable housing”.<\/p>\n

The council said the land failed to meet the criteria for it to be classed as a site of \u2018local importance for nature conservation\u2019 and its ecological value was \u201climited”.<\/p>\n

No public access to the green space meant its benefits were \u201crestricted\u201d according to the council.<\/p>\n

Planners said they had concluded that the land was \u201chighly unlikely to warrant any specific protection”.<\/p>\n

Campaigners had won what was described as a \u2018David and Goliath\u2019 battle with London-based developer Canmoor in 2019 for two industrial units, loading bays and a service yard.<\/p>\n

A petition boasting more than 20,000 signatures was handed to Sandwell Council\u2019s planning committee, which later rejected the application.<\/p>\n

The land behind the Asda supermarket off Wolverhampton Road is home to badgers, foxes and birds and acts as an important barrier to protect homes from M5 pollution, according to residents, but campaigners were faced with a fresh battle when development plans were put back on the table by housing developer Countryside in 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sandwell Council\u2019s planning committee rejected an application to build a mix of flats and homes on a much-loved…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,748,393,728,4884,8823,379,12,705,2516,12608,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-43024","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-environment","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-ldrs","14":"tag-local-hubs","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-oldbury","17":"tag-property","18":"tag-sandwell","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}