Neighbours say loss is ‘heartbreaking’

A man who has campaigned for years to save a wildlife corridor says it is “heartbreaking” to see the site flattened for housebuilding.

“That small little corridor of green was like an oasis,” Phil Shakespeare said.

He led a campaign to save the plot, situated next to an Asda supermarket in Oldbury, West Midlands, but an appeal over the latest proposals ultimately led to a scheme for 60 houses being approved in April by the planning inspector.

Now the site has been cleared in preparation for development work, with a recent aerial photo highlighting the difference compared with last year.

Locals objected to the plans due to concerns about wildlife, privacy and congestion as well as pollution from the nearby M5 motorway.

“All the trees that have been hacked down, they were all a sponge for soaking up pollution,” Mr Shakespeare said.

Sandwell Council’s planning committee agreed with neighbours, and rejected an application by developer Countryside because of cancer-linked pollution from busier roads.

However, in April the planning inspectorate approved the plans, overruling the local authority, saying pollution levels would be “well within limits”.

Countryside previously said its appeal would mean “the delivery of 60 much-needed affordable homes alongside ecological improvements and employment opportunities for the local community.”

Mr Shakespeare – whose house backs onto the site – said over the course of about a decade, locals had fought off initial plans to extend the supermarket car park and later battled successfully against plans for an industrial unit on the plot.

“We got it thrown out on the sense of pollution and bad air quality,” he said.

It had sat as a wildlife corridor for many years as a home to badgers, foxes and birds, according to campaigners.

It used to be allotments in the Victorian days, Mr Shakespeare said, but was abandoned in the 1930s and left to its own devices.

“The beauty of it was, it was private land but nobody could access it so it was left to wildlife.”

He added: “In winter you can see the M5, but in summer you would swear you were in the countryside, it was lovely.

“Business always wins out unfortunately. You can’t save something that’s now gone, can you.”