New homes approved next to M5 in Oldbury despite pollution ‘cancer risk’

Sandwell Council’s planning committee rejected an application to build a mix of flats and homes on a much-loved ‘wildlife corridor’ off Titord Road next to the Asda supermarket and M5 in Oldbury.

But a government inspector has now overruled the Black Country local authority following an appeal by developer Countryside.

The government inspector approved the plan, overruling Sandwell Council, saying that pollution levels would be ‘well within limits'.

Sandwell councillors rejected the plan in February 2024 over fears that future residents would be subject to toxic pollution from not only the M5 but Wolverhampton Road and Titford Road – with the predicted level of poisonous fumes from the busy roads breaching illegal levels for families by the time they moved onto the new estate.

The ‘fine’ pollution particles – otherwise known as particulate matter or PM2.5 because of their less than 2.5-micrometre diameter – contain microscopic solids and liquids that can get deep into lungs. It is linked to cancer, heart disease, asthma, and low birth weight.

The Environment Act 2021 sets future targets to reduce the level of PM2.5 to 10 μg/m³ by December 2040, with an ‘interim’ target of 12 μg/m³ by January 2028. Exposure to the public needs to be cut by at least 35 per cent by 2040 and 22 per cent by 2028.

The inspector said the council’s public health department had said the new homes “would not by [themselves] make existing pollution concentrations significantly worse” and an air quality assessment said impact would be “negligible.”

The predicted PM2.5 levels of 7.41μg/m³ would be “well within the limit” according to the inspector. The proposed pollution levels on the land next to the M5 in 2028 ‘would be within the interim target’ to cut levels by 2040, the inspector’s report said.

The move to reduce exposure – to what has been called the ‘most damaging pollutant to human health’ – by more than a fifth by 2028 was a “national” not individual target for housing developments.

Despite anxiety from colleagues at Sandwell Council’s environmental health department about the dangerous and harmful levels of pollution, the authority’s planners recommended ahead of the meeting in February last year that the application should be given the green light.

The committee’s rejection decision was met with applause from residents who had opposed the move.

Members of the committee, including Councillor Liam Preece, said he was “deeply uncomfortable with asking people to move into a place that is toxic or unsafe and will likely remain that way in the future".

Langley ward councillor Bill Gavan said traffic in the area was a “nightmare” and the air quality was “disgusting".

However, the rejection and the deemed unsuitability of the land from councillors comes after the council already earmarked the space as a potential site for new homes in the not-yet-approved Sandwell Local Plan – a housing blueprint drawn up in recent years by the council following the collapse of the Black Country Plan in 2022.

Sandwell Council’s planners had said the new homes would be “an appropriate reuse of brownfield land which would deliver a much-needed mix of affordable housing".

The council said the land failed to meet the criteria for it to be classed as a site of ‘local importance for nature conservation’ and its ecological value was “limited".

No public access to the green space meant its benefits were “restricted” according to the council.

Planners said they had concluded that the land was “highly unlikely to warrant any specific protection".

Campaigners had won what was described as a ‘David and Goliath’ battle with London-based developer Canmoor in 2019 for two industrial units, loading bays and a service yard.

A petition boasting more than 20,000 signatures was handed to Sandwell Council’s planning committee, which later rejected the application.

The land behind the Asda supermarket off Wolverhampton Road is home to badgers, foxes and birds and acts as an important barrier to protect homes from M5 pollution, according to residents, but campaigners were faced with a fresh battle when development plans were put back on the table by housing developer Countryside in 2024.