Consultation on development of Redditch to begin

People in Redditch are to be consulted on the town’s next phase of development.

Everyone who lives or works in Redditch will now be asked to help shape how the area could grow, after councillors at last night’s (May 19) meeting of Redditch Borough Council gave the go-ahead for an ‘issues and options’ planning consultation.

The six-week consultation will run from Thursday (May 22) until July 3, including special community events across the borough at dates and locations to be announced.

It marks the formal start of work to prepare a new Local Plan for Redditch, a key planning document which will set out the strategy to meet the borough’s future needs for housing, employment and infrastructure up to 2043.

Redditch Borough Council Leader and Portfolio Holder for Regeneration and Environmental Services, Cllr Sharon Harvey, said: “Almost six decades on from Redditch’s new town masterplan, this consultation is an early opportunity to shape the next phase of Redditch’s development.

“This is the start of the process, so no development sites are proposed. That is for a later stage. For now, we need your views on the issues we must tackle, and how we propose to approach those issues.”

The consultation sets out background info and broad options for the key planning issues in Redditch and asks for views on them. Those include growth options, approaches to housing, the economy and the district centres, the borough’s natural and historic environments, the ‘design code’ that will guide how things should look, and climate change

It also meets a requirement to give landowners and developers the opportunity to submit what they believe are potential development sites, known as the ‘call for sites’.

The council will consider all the responses it receives during the next stage of the process, which will be to draft actual planning policies for another round of public consultation in the future.

This consultation also gives people in Redditch, for the very first time, a powerful digital consultation platform to more easily have their say on the issues and options for local planning, in addition to traditional methods.

Cllr Harvey added: “This process is how we as a community can decide how Redditch will develop, so however you choose to respond, please give us your views so your voice can be heard. This is an important early stage and everyone is entitled to their say. You can say as much or as little as you like. I’m therefore delighted to announce that this year the council has made it easier than ever for more people to take part, with a new digital tool that makes navigating the issues and options easy. And look out for consultation events in the community coming soon too, where the team will be on hand to talk through it."

The consultation will now begin on Thursday. From that day it will be possible to view the consultation documents, respond to it, and see upcoming consultation events at www.redditchbc.gov.uk/redditchplan, and paper copies will be available to view at the council’s Customer Services at George Walk in the Kingfisher Shopping Centre, Redditch Library, and Woodrow Library.

For queries relating to the consultation, please contact the council on redditchplan@bromsgroveandredditch.gov.uk or 01527 881272 or 881663.