100 at meeting to oppose Green Belt homes

CAMPAIGNERS are fighting council plans to earmark greenfield sites in their area for thousands of homes.

- Sentinel Reporter

Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s draft local plan includes site allocations for 18,528 homes, with about 5,000 allocated to sites in the Baddeley Green, Milton and Norton ward.

It proposes to take large areas out of the Green Belt at Ball Green, Norton Green and Baddeley Edge to make them available for development. Greenfield land next to the Doulton estate in Baddeley Green, which has been subject to a planning application for 138 homes since 2022, is also included in the allocations.

About 100 residents attended a public meeting in Baddeley Green to discuss the plan, organised by ward councillor Dave Evans, with many expressing anger.

Cllr Evans believes the local plan would ‘fundamentally change’ the nature of the largely rural ward, and urged residents to respond to a public consultation set to begin next month.

He said: “We can make it very clear to the current council administration that this area is different to the rest of the area. We're a rural area, we're the only area in Stoke-on-Trent that has small villages, and which has extensive Green Belt.