The Review of the Dudley UDP 2011
Your town is going to continue to change over the next 10 years. New homes will be needed; factories and offices for new jobs will be built; buildings for leisure and retailing will be required and the way we move around the Borough will change.
There will also be new ways of delivering services by, for example, the Council and Health Organisations. Change will happen, the challenge is to make sure that change meets your needs and hopes for the future and protects the Borough for future generations.
Dudley Council has some very difficult decisions to make about the future plans for the Borough. These decisions will be put together in one document called the Dudley Borough Unitary Development Plan or UDP. It will be the single most important Town Planning document for our Borough and will guide development up to the year 2011. No decisions will be made until the people of the Borough have been given a chance to have their say.
The Council fully understands that the new UDP for the Borough may not seem very important to your life, BUT IT WILL affect your environment, jobs, homes, transport, town centres, your health and well being and your quality of life. What is more, your views on these issues WILL make a difference to the new Plan. When the Council prepared the last UDP we listened to you. The decisions that were made were based on the concerns and views of the people of the Borough.
Many organisations, such as land owners and developers now understand that UDPs are very important and they will spend a lot of time and effort trying to get their views across. As a general rule, new developments have to conform with the policies and land use designations contained in the UDP. For this reason, land owners and developers will try to make sure that their sites are designated for the type of development that they would like. THEIR VIEWS MAY NOT BE THE SAME AS YOURS BUT UNLESS YOU TELL THE COUNCIL WHAT YOU WANT ONLY THEIR VIEWS WILL BE HEARD.
The Government expects councils to produce development plans for their areas. In the case of Dudley Borough, this Plan is called a Unitary Development Plan or UDP. Every planning application has to follow the rules set out in the UDP; including where buildings can or cannot be built, what type and use of buildings are allowed. These rules will be based on Government policy (which we cannot change) and the social, health, environmental and economic needs of the Borough (which you can help decide). Some of the most important decisions to be made in the new UDP will include:
- Where should land for jobs be found or protected?
- Where should new homes be provided and for whom?
- What are the priorities for transport?
- What older industrial areas need to be improved and how?
- What should be the future role of town centres, including the Brierley Hill Area (Merry Hill, Waterfront and Brierley Hill)?
- Can the Borough's many communities be strengthened, including health and welfare needs?
These early documents relate to the preparation of the Dudley Unitary Development Plan and chart the stages and position of policy in the Plan at each stage of the review. They are intended for reference only and the content does not necessarily reflect the current state of play.
