This is a guest blog post by local campaigner Darryl, active in the community in relation to environmental concerns and issues surrounding “reclamation” of contaminated land, in particular the so called “Friar Park Urban Village”, much lorded by the WMCA mayors and politicians of all major parties whose support of this is highly questionable. I have said my piece about this site which can be read HERE.
It emerged in The Sandwell local Plan, that this site as well as land off and including Rattlechain lagoon had been given the status of “strategic sites” by Sandwell Council, and an attempt no doubt to extort tax payers money out of cleaning up private land the polluter did not pay to do- in this case the disgusting polluter Severn Trent Water. The Matter 9 site allocations council statement about Friar Park can be read between pages 9-13 of the document below.
Sandwell_Council_Matter_9_statement
This is not the first time I have thrown the doors open to guest blogs about damaging sites in the community and “remediation” gone wrong stories. If you would like to tell your story of similar issues and it concerns contaminated land, landfill sites and the effect on communities, YOUR COMMUNITY, then please get in touch via our facebook page. If you disagree with his opinion, why, and what evidence can you offer?
OPINION BY DARRYL MAGHER
How FPUV, Rattlechain, the A4031/M6 corridor and a blinkered MP are steering Sandwell into a perfect storm.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to Sandwell — the borough where “regeneration” now means building houses first and thinking later.
Friar Park Urban Village (FPUV) is being marketed as a shining beacon of progress: 630 homes, a “village,” a “community,” a “green spine,” and all the usual brochure adjectives.
Scratch even slightly and you reveal a familiar Sandwell storyline:
pollution ignored, contaminated land brushed aside, infrastructure under pressure, flood risk minimised, SEND and school needs denied, consultation treated as a box-ticking ritual, and an MP who thinks “we need homes” is the only line that matters.
When you add the farce surrounding the Rattlechain consultation, the overloaded A4031/M6 corridor, and political pressure on statutory bodies, this development looks less like regeneration and more like a risk-laden experiment run on political optimism and questionable modelling.
1. The A4031/M6 Corridor: Already Broken, Now Being Pushed to Failure
Congestion from West Bromwich to Walsall is a daily spectacle.
Add the Lidl RDC, the new Lidl store, Tame Bridge Parkway overflow, ongoing motorway works and FPUV, and you have a corridor ready to collapse.
Yet the modelling whispers sweetly:
“Modest traffic impact.”
Modest, in the same way the M6 at rush hour is “moderately busy.”
No cumulative model.
No Sandwell–Walsall joint plan.
No corridor-wide transport strategy.
But the houses? They’re coming anyway.
2. Pollution: Building in a Legal-Breach Zone and Calling It ‘Opportunity’
The air quality in this corridor breaches legal NO₂ limits. PM2.5 exposure is high.
Respiratory and cardiovascular illness rates outstrip regional averages.
Official mitigation consists of:
Some saplings (not semi-mature trees)
EV chargers
And the immortal line: “Pollution will disperse”
Scientifically impressive. Morally disgraceful.
3. Contaminated Land: EA Hesitation vs WMCA Impatience
Friar Park is the former sewage works.
Contaminants remain.
Groundwater pathways exist.
Remediation is complex, expensive and uncertain.
The Environment Agency is cautious — as they should be.
WMCA and Sandwell?
They want the permits now.
There’s political pride to protect and levelling-up deadlines to hit.
We’ve seen this pattern already at Rattlechain, where the consultation resembled a pantomime of reassurance rather than a scientific assessment.
4. Flood Risk: The River Tame Doesn’t Read Planning Documents
Yes, the FRA (flood risk assessment ED) labels it Zone 1.
But the River Tame has other ideas.
Climate change is accelerating runoff.
Hard surfacing increases downstream flooding.
Contamination risks multiply.
No catchment-scale model exists.
Yet the site is declared “safe”.
This is optimism posing as risk management.
5. Ecology & Green Corridors: A Missed Opportunity on an Epic Scale
FPUV should have been a connector:
Friar Park → Hateley Heath → Stone Cross → Yew Tree → Great Barr
Instead:
No mature green buffers
No motorway noise shields
No real wildlife corridors
No green-infrastructure logic
Tokenism instead of ecological planning
“Green” is simply a colour in a consultant’s graphic.
6. Schools and SEND: A Reality the Council Refuses to Acknowledge
Sandwell Labour’s official line:
“There is no requirement for a new secondary school.”
Reality:
Wednesbury secondary capacity is at breaking point
SEND places are full
Out-of-borough placements are up and costing a fortune
The new SEND school on Friar Park is already at capacity
FPUV adds hundreds of children
This site was previously meant for a state-of-the-art secondary school under Building Schools for the Future.
Instead?
Housing estate.
7. The National Bungalow Crisis — Ignored Completely in Sandwell
National evidence:
Step-free and lifetime homes desperately needed
Friar Park Urban Village delivers:
Zero bungalows.
If you wanted proof that local politicians aren’t reading national housing research, this is it.
8. Rattlechain: A Template for What’s Going Wrong
The Rattlechain “consultation” demonstrated everything wrong with Sandwell and WMCA’s current approach:
Predetermined decisions
Glossy boards
Residents sidelined
Environmental concerns minimised
EA pressure increasing
Levelling Up money driving the agenda
The patterns are identical at Friar Park.
9. Cross-Boundary Failure With Walsall Council
The corridor affects:
Yew Tree
Tame Bridge
Pleck
Delves
Broadway
Walsall A4148
Junction 7
Retail clusters around J9
Yet the councils have produced:
No joint modelling
No shared pollution strategy
No school capacity partnership
No flood-risk integration
No ecological network
No transport plan
A development of this size impacts two boroughs — but receives the planning attention of half of one.
10. Antonia Bance MP: The One-Note Housing Mantra
When residents raise:
Traffic
Pollution
SEND strain
Ecological fragmentation
Flood risk
Contaminated land
Consultation failures
Lack of bungalows
Cross-boundary impacts
The reply is always the same:
“We need housing.”
“I will raise this.”
“Consultation is ongoing.”
Not once has the MP confronted the structural failures behind the scheme.
Not once has she challenged the council’s magical modelling.
Not once has she pushed for school or SEND assessments.
Not once has she addressed bungalow demand, pollution, or ecological decline.
It’s political autopilot — not representation.
CONCLUSION: FPUV IS NOT REGENERATION — IT IS A HIGH-RISK EXPERIMENT
Add together:
Corridor overload
Contaminated land
Pollution exceedances
Lack of schools and SEND provision
Flooding concerns
Ecological failure
Zero bungalows
WMCA political pressure
Rattlechain-style consultation
Walsall–Sandwell disconnection
Weak scrutiny from elected representatives
And the picture is clear:
Friar Park Urban Village is not regeneration.
It is institutional overconfidence dressed up as progress.
Residents deserve honesty, realism and real planning.
Not slogans.
Not rushed decisions.
Not political vanity schemes.
#FriarPark #Sandwell #RegenerationFail #Planning #EnvironmentalGovernance