Protected trees, high hedge complaints and TPO applications
If you currently have a planning application involving protected trees, a High Hedge complaint, or TPO application, please expect a delay with any consultation or decision. We are currently diverting all our resources into dealing with the affected trees in the Norton / Stourbridge area following wildfires. We would appreciate your patience given the unprecedented demand and will respond to matters in due course.
The Register will help developers identify suitable sites quickly, speeding up the construction of new homes and maximising the number of new homes built on suitable brownfield land avoiding the need to build on less sustainable locations.
The Town and Country Planning (Brownfield Land Register) Regulations 2017 require local authorities to prepare and maintain a register of brownfield land that is suitable for residential development: Part 1 of the Brownfield Land Register.
The Regulations require the register to be updated at least once a year.
The current Dudley Council Brownfield Register was last updated in November 2025 and comprises the sites entered on our current Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA), where the former use was brownfield, excluding open space and garden land sites: see the answers to the questions (below) for more detail on a site's eligibility for inclusion on the register.
The Town and Country Planning (Permission in Principle) Order 2017 states that sites entered on Part 2 of the Brownfield Land Register will be granted permission in principle.
Dudley Council currently has no Part 2 sites.
Brownfield land is defined in the National Planning Policy Framework (Annex 2) as:
Land which is or was occupied by a permanent structure, including the curtilage of the developed land (although it should not be assumed that the whole of the curtilage should be developed) and any associated fixed surface infrastructure.
This excludes:
land that is or has been occupied by agricultural or forestry buildings
land that has been developed for minerals extraction or waste disposal by landfill purposes where provision for restoration has been made through development control procedures
land in built-up areas such as private residential gardens, parks, recreation grounds and allotments
land that was previously-developed but where the remains of the permanent structure or fixed surface structure have blended into the landscape in the process of time
Available (either in the short term within 5 years or in the medium term between 6 and 10 years
Capable of accommodating 5 or more dwellings or more than 0.25 hectares – although smaller sites may also be considered
Capable of development i.e. suitable for residential use and free from constraints that cannot be mitigated
