Decision due on green space distribution centre

Councillors are set to decide on plans to build a distribution centre on fields in Wolverhampton.

Goold Estates wants to create more than 300 parking spaces, 60 lorry parking bays and a new entrance for vehicles off busy Neachells Lane.

The former coal mine was used as a landfill site, before being "reclaimed" in the 1990s as public open space, and now as a designated site of local importance for nature conservation.

A handful of objections have raised concerns over the loss of green space and increase in congestion and collisions ahead of the council meeting on 25 March.

The site was included as part of an urban forest project across the Black Country in the early 2000s, designed to increase urban tree planting and create more woodlands for public use.

The application said that just under half of the site would remain as open space but some objectors said the remaining green space would be "minimal" and "practically unusable".

Nearby St Matthias School also raised concerns saying it would lead to an increase in noise, especially in the summer during exams, and the community would lose its only green space.

It said that removing the Black Country Urban Forest went against the school's teaching of students to respect and protect nature, as well as its bid to bring in forest school and attention restoration therapy for its pupils - which required access to nearby wild space.

The council said there was a "surplus" of open space in the Bilston area and "alternative uses that make better use of the land to provide resources for investment should be utilised".

"The development will have substantial benefits to the economy, both through the direct capital investment during the construction phase, and through the creation of jobs during the operational stage, with the applicant estimating that the new facility will have a workforce of between 320 to 535 employees," a report by the council said.

Council planning officers recommend the work be approved by councillors and said the "significant" financial investment and jobs "outweighed" the loss of green space and environmental impact.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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