West Midlands Green Belt

Worcester,s Green Belt was approved by the Secretary of State in 1990/91 after a Green Belt Local Plan Inquiry in October 1990.This was subsequently followed by the Wychavon Green Belt, forming a continuous Green Belt around the West Midlands conurbation with a southern extension along the A38 "corridor"to Worcester. The main function was to prevent the outward expansion of Birmingham and now covers many miles of open countryside out as far as Bridgenorth in the west to beyond Coventry in the east.

The Drotwich , Fernhill Heath, Worcester Green Belt "spur" is much less extensive ( down to a few hundred yards at its narrowest point here in Claines) but ,nevertheless, has been instrumental in preventing the coalescence of these communities and protecting any linear expansion of development along the A38 corridor.
The boundaries of this "spur" south of Drotwich, were defined as the M5 in the east and the railway line in the west, with Fernhill Heath "washed out"down to Wychavon,s boundary with Worcester adjacent to the A449. Worcester,s thin ribbon of Green Belt skirts the northern edge of the city again meeting the A449.
Whilst a practical planning tool, the location of Fernhill Heath has always meant that at its southern built up edge ( Rose Bank) it is perilously close to the northern edge of pre-war housing on the west side of the A38 ( Drotwich Road) within Worcester City. Thus the Green Belt has a reasonable chance of protecting the A38 corridor until it reaches Fernhill Heath- where it becomes so fragile as to be only just capable of doing its job.
Locally,in terms of the bigger picture,( West Midland Green Belt) Worcester,s Green Belt is minuscule in dimension compared to other areas,where huge swaths of land acting as buffer zones to expansion/ coalescence.Worcester City,relative to its size,has only a very small area designated as Green Belt.
These facts should feature ,strongly, in defence of any erosion to our local Green Belt,

It is worth remembering that our Green Belt is part of the West Midlands Green Belt and, locally, has two administrators- Worcester City and Wychavon. Both councils currently conform to the latest version of PPG2 ( Government policy on Green Belts) and it is imperative that they should continue to sing from the same hymn sheet over there stance on Green Belt issues.