Buntsford Hill 293 homes plan: comment by 8 September

An outline application for up to 293 homes on the fields between Buntsford Hill and Avoncroft Museum, on the southern edge of Bromsgrove, is now open for public comment. Bromsgrove District Council validated application 26/00834/OUT on 5 August, wrote to neighbours on 11 August and advertised it in the press on 14 August. The consultation closes on Tuesday 8 September 2026, and the council has set itself a target of 28 October to decide it, with a statutory deadline of 4 November. (Planning register, dates tab)

The applicant is Barberry Bromsgrove Ltd with PlanIT Planning and Development, represented by Birmingham agents Harris Lamb. The site is in Stoke parish and Avoncroft ward, and the case officer is Sean Herbert. (Planning register, further information)

What is proposed

The site is 13.67 hectares of hedged agricultural fields on the south side of the town. Its north-western edge is the hedge line shared with Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings; its north-eastern edge is Buntsford Hill itself, the road that runs south from the A38 past Buntsford Gate Business Park towards Fish House Lane and Sugarbrook Lane. The applicant’s planning statement describes the neighbours as the museum to the north, the business park and car showrooms across the road, and small pockets of housing on Buntsford Hill including Tanhouse Farm. (Supporting Planning Statement, 30 June 2026, section 2)

Because this is an outline application with all matters reserved except access, the council is being asked to decide the principle of housing here and the road junctions, not the house designs. The key numbers from the applicant’s own documents:

• Up to 293 dwellings on a net developable area of 7.63 hectares.
• 50 per cent affordable housing, which the statement says is offered to meet the government’s “Golden Rules” for building on Grey Belt land. The mix and tenure of the affordable homes would be negotiated later, at the detailed stage.
• 6.09 hectares of the site kept as green infrastructure, open space, landscaping and tree planting, with a large area of open space along the western edge “to set development back from the windmill”, a second area in the middle around an existing orchard, and new green corridors carrying walking and cycling routes.
• A looped road with its main access from the existing roundabout on Buntsford Hill and a second vehicular access in the eastern corner of the site, also on to Buntsford Hill.
• Drainage ponds mainly to the south and south-west of the site because of the slope.

(Supporting Planning Statement, section 3)

The Green Belt argument

The whole site is in the Green Belt, and the applicant does not dispute that. The case for building rests on national policy changes rather than on the local plan. The planning statement argues that the site is “Grey Belt” land, that Bromsgrove’s housing and Green Belt policies are out of date, and that the council cannot show a five-year supply of housing land. It quotes the council’s own monitoring document from April 2025 as showing a 2.24-year supply and a shortfall equivalent to 2,372 dwellings, and the December 2024 Housing Delivery Test result of 50 per cent. On those figures, the statement says, the “presumption in favour of sustainable development” applies. (Supporting Planning Statement, sections 4.62 to 4.64)

The statement also acknowledges what is against the site. It is not a draft allocation in the council’s emerging Local Plan consultation. In the council’s site assessment it was considered as part of a larger area (sites 173 and 193), of which the western part was rated as causing “High” Green Belt harm and the eastern part, which is the application site, “Moderate”. The council’s own Part 2 Green Belt Study of June 2022 straddles assessment parcels BS6 and BS7. (Supporting Planning Statement, sections 4.46 and 4.52 to 4.53) A separate Grey Belt Assessment by Marrons is among the 44 documents on the register.

What residents said before it was submitted

The applicant’s Statement of Community Involvement records a leaflet drop to about 100 homes and businesses around Buntsford Hill on 30 November 2025, a consultation website at buntsfordhill.co.uk that launched on 21 November, and an email to the ward member on 20 November. It drew 62 survey responses and 14 written comments. Asked whether this was a suitable location for a new neighbourhood, 56 of 62 respondents (90.3 per cent) said no and 5 said yes. On whether the affordable housing mattered to them, 44 said no and 10 yes. On the open space, opinion split 25 in favour, 26 against, 9 unsure. The most-picked infrastructure priorities were GP surgeries and healthcare (18 responses) and education (14). (Statement of Community Involvement, 3 June 2026, section 5)

One detail worth noting: that survey told residents that 45 per cent of the homes would be affordable. The application as submitted offers 50 per cent. The statement also records that a pre-application letter was sent to the council on 12 November 2025 and that, at the time of writing in May 2026, no pre-application response had been received.

Who has responded so far

As of 16 August the register holds two public objections and comments from two statutory consultees. Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service neither objected nor supported, but set out its access requirements: fire appliance access to within 45 metres of every point inside each home, turning facilities on any dead-end route longer than 20 metres, and firefighting water supply to national guidance and BS 9990. (Consultee comment, 13 August 2026) Cadent Gas has filed two responses. Comments from Worcestershire County Council as highway authority and from the district’s own planning policy team had not appeared on the register at the time of writing.

What it means for you

• The deadline is 8 September. Comments can be made through the application page on the Bromsgrove and Redditch planning portal, quoting 26/00834/OUT. Neighbour letters give a slightly earlier date of 4 September and the press notice expires on 31 August, so do not leave it to the last day.
• Comment on planning matters. Access on to Buntsford Hill and the A38, the loss of Green Belt, the effect on Avoncroft Museum’s setting, drainage, and pressure on GP and school places are the kind of points that carry weight. House styles and layouts are reserved for later, so objections about design will not bite at this stage.
• If it is refused, expect an appeal. The application is built around the five-year land supply and Grey Belt arguments that have been winning at appeal elsewhere, and the applicant has already flagged those points. A committee refusal would not necessarily be the end.
• Traffic during any build would come off Buntsford Hill and the A38 corridor; our roadworks and travel page tracks the A38 works programme, and other current applications are on our planning news page. For what homes here would sell for, the district context is on our house prices page.

We will follow the application through to a decision. The full document list, including the transport assessment, ecology reports and the Grey Belt assessment, is on the register’s documents tab.