Golf course included in new Sandwell housing blueprint

The nine-hole course at Tippity Green Golf Club in Rowley Regis would be used to build up to 175 new homes as part of changes to the Sandwell Local Plan – a blueprint for where new homes are set to be built across the borough in the next 16 years.

The Sandwell Local Plan, a document which sets out where new homes will be built in the borough up to 2041, is currently being reviewed by a government planning inspector having gone through public consultation last year.

The local authority said the site had become available as potential for a new estate by developer Barratt Homes after it had submitted its plans to the government for inspection.

Adding the golf course to its future housing plans would require further public consultation before it could be accepted, the council said.

More than a third of the land has historically been used for landfill which could be used for ‘public space or supporting infrastructure.’

The land’s historic use forced the council to reduce the indicative number of homes that could be built on the golf course from 250 to 175. The club’s driving range would remain according to the plans.

The report to Sandwell Council’s cabinet ahead of a meeting on April 9 said: “A national housebuilder has agreed draft heads of terms for acquiring an interest in the site and intends to submit a planning application and build out a residential development on adoption.”

The council’s own assessment said: “The site is well connected to local schools and services.

“Although development may have a negative impact on a local nature conservation designation, Allsopp’s Hill, there will be opportunities to reduce any adverse impacts and also to enhance the biodiversity value of the area, as well as the adjoining driving range and existing golf club, as part of the development.”

As many as 278 new homes are being built on the former Edwin Richards Quarry off nearby Portway Road.

The homes would be built in the next six to eight years, applicant and landowner FCC Environment said in 2023 after receiving the backing of Sandwell Council.

The multi-million-pound plan to transform the former Edwin Richards Quarry was revealed more than a decade ago – a scheme that included hundreds of new homes, a waste plant, and a promise to fill the quarry with 12 million tonnes of imported materials across at least 30 years.

The land had also long been touted by Sandwell Council as a site for future housing.

North of the former quarry sits the 18-hole Dudley Golf Club off Turners Hill.