Dave Robertson MP has officially weighed in on Bloor Homes’ outline application (25/01485/OUTM) to build 250 houses on the Green Belt at Coulter Lane.

Now, it’s important to be realistic, an MP doesn’t have a magic wand to unilaterally veto a local planning committee decision. But what he has given us in his official memorandum is incredibly valuable. He has put his weight firmly behind our core technical arguments against this estate.

First, he has formally acknowledged the severe highway safety issues near Fulfen Primary School, specifically pointing to the Staffordshire Police enforcement logs that we’ve been highlighting. For months, the planning directorate has tried to rely on the developer’s theoretical desk models to claim the roads are safe. The MP’s letter puts that to bed, stating on the record that this police evidence is “exactly the kind of material that must be taken seriously by the planning authority”. Under National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) Paragraph 115, a development absolutely must be refused if it causes an unacceptable impact on highway safety. The committee can no longer pretend this police-logged hazard zone doesn’t exist.

The second major point is the ongoing mess of the Local Plan. We’ve been warning the council that approving 250 homes while the district’s Local Plan is stalled in a 30-month reset is a severe case of “Planning Prematurity” under NPPF Paragraphs 49 and 50. It basically lets volume house builders dictate our town’s footprint by stealth while ignoring the cumulative impact of over 1,300 speculative homes currently targeting Burntwood. Dave Robertson didn’t mince his words here. He called the 30-month delay “unacceptable” and explicitly pointed the finger at the Conservative administration, led by Cllr Doug Pullen and Cllr Alex Farrell, for leaving Burntwood exposed to speculative development, which he rightly notes is undermining public confidence in the whole system.

He promised to stand ready to raise our concerns with the relevant bodies if the planning authority fails to consider them appropriately.

The pressure is mounting. The remaining members of the Planning Committee have a choice this Monday. They can either uphold their own statutory policies and refuse the application, or they can vote it through in a manufactured policy vacuum and instantly trigger a High Court Judicial Review from our team.

Please stand with us. We need numbers. Join us this Monday, 20th July at 5:15 PM outside the District Council House on Frog Lane. Let’s show the committee that the community, the police, and now the local MP are watching them closely.

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Heres the exact text from Daves email:

Hi,

I hope you are well.

Thank you for your letter and for setting out the concerns of Burntwood Action Group. I recognise the strength of feeling locally about the Coulter Lane application and the wider impact of the delayed Local Plan. It is clear many residents are worried about road safety, pressure on infrastructure, and the loss of green space.

The 30‑month delay to Lichfield’s Local Plan is unacceptable. The Conservative administration, led by Cllr Doug Pullen and Cllr Alex Farrell, has left the district exposed at exactly the point when strong, up‑to‑date planning protections are needed. That failure has created uncertainty for communities and opened the door for speculative development in a way that undermines confidence in the system. We deserve better than this.

It is right that local Labour councillors are now calling this decision in and pushing for proper scrutiny. That is where these decisions should be tested – openly, with evidence, and with full accountability to residents.

I do need to be clear about one point. Members of Parliament do not have a formal role in determining planning applications. Decisions sit with the local planning authority under planning law, through its officers and elected councillors. If there is legislation or formal policy that suggests an MP can intervene directly in that process, I am happy to review it. But anecdote is not the same as authority, and I will not mislead residents about what I can and cannot do. For the same reason, my predecessor did not take a formal role in individual planning determinations either.

That does not mean I stand back. Where there are clear concerns from residents, particularly around road safety and infrastructure, and evidence that the local planning authority is failing to consider them appropriately, I stand ready to raise them with the relevant bodies and make sure they are properly considered. The evidence you describe, including enforcement logs and documented safety issues near Fulfen Primary School, is exactly the kind of material that must be taken seriously by the planning authority.

It is important that all representations continue to be submitted through the planning process, so they carry full weight in the decision. Local councillors on the planning committee will ultimately determine this application, as set out in law and they must do so in full view of the concerns you have set out.

More broadly, the underlying issue here is the failure to deliver a Local Plan on time. That is what has left communities like Burntwood exposed, and that is what needs to be fixed. I will continue to press for clarity and accountability on how this situation arose and what is being done to put it right.

I will keep this under review and will continue to stand up for residents where systems are not working as they should.

Kind regards,
Dave

Dave Robertson MP

Member of Parliament for Lichfield, Burntwood, and the villages

Parliamentary Office: House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA