Dudley Council formally adopted its Local Plan 2041 on Monday, a blueprint that will govern development until 2041 and explicitly safeguards Kingswinford’s Green Belt. The plan, approved by a unanimous vote at Full Council, prioritises what the council calls the “protection and enhancement of our green and natural environment.” This means all future planning decisions will be measured against the new statutory document.
It sets a course for approximately 10,500 new homes by 2041, with 97 per cent on brownfield sites and just three per cent on greenfield land. Two Green Belt sites in Kingswinford and Wall Heath — the 560-home Triangle and a 330-home plot between Charterfields Estate and Holbeach Lane — have been removed from the plan. The withdrawal comes after years of campaigning as the proposal is criticised, and a government inspector ruled in January 2026 that “exceptional circumstances” had not been triggered to justify Green Belt release for housing.
The plan’s journey began with a controversial withdrawal from a joint Black Country Plan in October 2022, when council leader Patrick Harley rejected pressure to develop Green Belt. It was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate in February 2025 and approved after a public examination. Yet the adoption is not the end of the story. Government housing targets, revised after the general election, now demand 1,514 new homes each year in Dudley — more than double the previous number. Work on a fresh plan must begin immediately.
Full plan documents can be viewed at The Council House in Dudley and at Brierley Hill, Dudley, Halesowen, and Stourbridge libraries during normal opening hours, as well as online.
About this article: This story was put together with the help of AI tools and checked by a real person on our team. We're a small crew trying to cover as much of the UK as we can on a limited budget. We're getting better every day - but we're not perfect yet. If something looks off, let us know. You're part of the process.
