The History of Regional Planning: The West Midlands Green Belt By Charles Goode, ESRC Doctoral Researcher in Urban and Regional Planning Contextualising the West Midlands Green Belt (GB) • Birmingham and the Black Country grew very rapidly in the Industrial Revolution. • It was said of Birmingham in 1902 that there were: ‘Continuous roads and houses from Aston on the east to Wolverhampton in the west’ so that it is ‘quite as much entitled to a single name as is Greater London’ (Hall et al., 1973b, p. 82) • Urban growth continued and decentralised in the inter-war period, especially along the Tame Valley and to the south west with the Austin Car Factory at Longbridge. 1948 Regional Study • A rare moment of significant regional cooperation centred around the vision of containing the conurbation’s growth and decentralising development. • Proposed a GB although this was not finally approved until 1975. Birmingham City Council had already started purchasing GB land in the Lickeys in the inter-war period. • The Study was conducted in the aftermath of the destruction of WWII and due to concerns about ribbon development spoiling the countryside, especially along the A38. Regional Planning in Practice • While containment and the de facto GB worked very effectively, decentralising population was much more challenging under the 1952 Town Development Act. This also reflects the constant challenge/ tension in regional planning between Birmingham and its neighbours. • Shortly after the Wythall Enquiry of 1958, the planning academic Peter Self reflected: ‘The restrictive use of Green Belts has tended to run far ahead of measures to redistribute population … The Government warmly recommended the implementation of restrictive Green Belts but it held aloof from the complex problems of urban dispersal which must be solved if Green Belts are workable’. Changing Times in Regional Planning • Hall highlights that a key issue was that industry and jobs did not decentralise significantly in the post-war era, particularly due to the car industry (agglomeration economics). • In 1964 the Housing Minister, Richard Crossman, approved Chelmsley Wood in the GB. • There were attempts at decentralisation to places like Droitwich and Tamworth while Dawley New Town was designated in 1963 and Redditch in 1964. • There were also attempts at regional planning like the West Midlands Planning Authorities Conference Regional Study (1971). Deindustrialisation and the Decline in Regional Planning • The West Midlands County Council was created in 1974 but was abolished in 1986. • With the decline of the car industry, planning became more focused on urban regeneration. • However, in 1971 the Environment Secretary, Peter Walker, approved the construction of the NEC. This together with the growth of the business parks, the Airport and M42 has resulted in significant growth pressure in this area. The Revival of Regional Planning • Regional planning saw a resurgence with the regional spatial strategies. • The West Midlands RSS focused largely on brownfield development/ urban regeneration. • There were some small changes to the GB with business parks being built like Blyth Park, industrial development like JLR/ i54 and some residential development (Walmley). The Current Situation- RSS Revocation, Regional (Planning) Recovery? • The RSS was abolished in 2010 and replaced with ‘localism’ and the Duty to Cooperate. This creates huge challenges, particularly how to manage Birmingham’s overspill (c. 38,000 homes). • Challenges in relation to the GB with Birmingham releasing land for 6,000 homes at Langley. • Elements of regional working with the LEP and now the Combined Authority- will the Combined Authority eventually take on planning powers? Will there be a return to statutory regional planning? What is the future of the West Midlands GB? Conclusions • Arguably there needs to be regional planning in the West Midlands given the complex, inter-related set of challenges surrounding housing, transport, the environment, employment, GB. • However, the history of regional planning has been fraught with tensions and challenges between the different authorities. The GB has been a key part of this history. • It will be interesting to observe whether the Combined Authority takes on planning powers. Image Credits • Author’s Own • Quilty-Harper, 2012, p. 1 • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Birmingham#/media/File:Birmingham_in_1886.jpg • https://www.google.co.uk/search? rlz=1C1GCEB_enGB789GB789&biw=1920&bih=969&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=g8C0W- vAEu2OlwTQo7fwBw&q=austin+car+factory • https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.3595658 • https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.3727316,-1.8860866,3a,76.4y,16.96h,75.89t/data=! 3m6!1e1!3m4!1sjEOk3FpCisA5Ctm_1HIdIg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelmsley_Wood#/media/ File:Chelmsley_Wood_Tower_Block.jpg • https://blythevalleypark.co.uk/about/gallery/ • http://www.suttoncoldfieldrural.com/.