In any community debate over major development, familiar comments always surface: “We need houses, and Burntwood grew by building on green fields in the past, so why stop now?”

It is a fair question on the surface, but it misses the core issue behind our campaign.

The Burntwood Action Group is not anti-development. We recognise that our town needs high-quality, genuinely affordable homes for young people and families. However, there is a fundamental difference between planned, sustainable community expansion and uncoordinated, speculative developer land grabs.

🏛️ History Lesson: Planned Growth vs. Speculative Grabs

It is true that established estates across Burntwood—such as Whitehouse Farm, Hunslet, and Highfields—were once open green space.

The critical difference is how those estates came to exist:

1. They were plan-led: They were designated through formal, democratic local plans that evaluated the town’s overall growth capacity over decades.
2. They were infrastructure-backed: They were matched with new school places, road access improvements, and community services.
3. They were phased: Development occurred in measured stages rather than an uncontrolled, simultaneous rush.

What Burntwood faces today is the exact opposite.

🛑 Why the Green Belt is Today’s Battleground

We do not focus on the Green Belt out of romantic nostalgia. We focus on it because volume housebuilders are actively exploiting a legal loophole.

Because Lichfield District Council delayed its Local Plan process to transition to a new system, developers are capitalising on a temporary gap in official land supply figures. They have launched a coordinated siege of 1,350+ speculative homes across Coulter Lane, Highfields Road, Rake Hill, Rugeley Road, and Farewell Lane.

These applications are not designed to solve Burntwood’s local housing crisis. They are designed to bypass local design standards and maximise developer margins on raw green fields before council protections are finalised.

🧱 What Sustainable Growth Actually Looks Like

Real, responsible planning puts the community first. A proper plan-led approach requires:

• Brownfield & Grey Belt First: Utilising urban infill, disused sites, and genuinely degraded land before swallowing pristine countryside.
• Infrastructure Lead: Ensuring GP surgeries have capacity, schools have places, and highways can safely handle traffic before hundreds of new vehicles hit Church Road.
• Genuine Local Need: Delivering housing tenures that reflect local wage realities, rather than standard speculative executive housing loops.

🤝 The Bottom Line

When BAG says “No More From Bloor,” we are not saying “no homes anywhere, ever.”

We are saying NO to reckless, uncoordinated development that ignores police traffic logs, overrides local design codes, and overwhelms our town’s basic services.

Burntwood deserves better than being treated as a soft target for corporate housebuilders. We stand for planned, fair, and sustainable growth—and we will keep fighting to protect our town’s future.