The Wyre Forest District Council local plan is, as many residents are aware, under public consultation. For many residents, they face the prospect of their views over what they thought was safe, greenbelt land being built on and I am hugely sympathetic to their concerns. I have had a couple of meetings with groups of residents on the east of Kidderminster, met with the march to the town hall and met with representatives of Bewdley Civic Society to hear specific concerns. Last weekend I joined an open surgery in Spennells, organised by council leader Marcus Hart with Cllr Ian Siddall, and heard yet more concerns about the proposals. I am meeting with planners this week to raise these concerns.

At the heart of this is a cross party agreement that the country needs more housing. For individual councils, it means they must assess the potential need for local housing and zone the district for areas of development – not just for housing but also for commercial use, industrial use and leisure. For us in Wyre Forest, we are being asked to find locations for up to around 6,000 new homes.

All councils need to do a district plan. This ensures that the council has gone through a due process to consult with all of us about how we want our district to look and change over the next ten years or so. It is a legal requirement and Wyre Forest District Council is a very efficient council when it comes to local plans and consultation. Not to have an approved plan in place opens the council up to challenge from developers who will argue that with no plan in place, the developer can argue that they can build wherever they want. So with a district plan in place, we run the risk of building on the greenbelt, but with the overall agreement of the community. Without a district plan, we run the risk of developers building on the green belt, but with no community say. It is an impossible situation.

The council has invited all owners of brownfield properties, or derelict buildings, to put their properties in to the consultation for development zoning, but if owners choose not to, or do not respond, the council cannot force their hand.

Being zoned for development does not mean developers will build. They take a commercial risk and if they decide that there is not the demand, they will not commit to build. But that is of little consolation for those who fear unwelcome development on their cherished views.