Housing numbers by the back door

Six months ago in the midst of arguments between local politicians and central government about the housing numbers proposed for the West Midlands, the issue of Eco-Towns reared its head.

It was all a bit vague, with the government not really saying much other than they wanted proposals on where they could be built, how big and which developers would get together to build them. There wasn’t much discussion about Eco-Towns in Lichfield District… it didn’t seem very relevant and we weren’t, and aren’t, keen on more housing in the district.

But over the past few months the issue of Eco-Towns has become a hot topic. A consortium of house builders came out of nowhere and proposed 5000 new eco-homes for a site near Fradley. The proposal then became firmer and suddenly with Lichfield District Council being pretty well bypassed a pre-application ended up at Government Office for the West Midlands and then at Lichfield DC.

So suddenly, almost out of the blue, the people of Lichfield are faced with the possibility of a new town which would pretty well join up the City with Fradley… and, bizzarely, it’s all happening under the radar. There’s been a few bits in the local media but other than that it’s all a bit quiet.

Another covert action from this government which is looking more and more likely to land us with another 5000 houses I, for one, do not want.

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