Part One: Spatial Strategy and Policies (Regulation 19)

Brierley Hill Strategic Centre

The Strategic Centre of Dudley Borough which will encourage and accommodate new development centred around proposed new transport infrastructure.

Attractive and effective links will be formed between the Merry Hill Centre and Brierley Hill High Street, encouraging the continued use of these locations for local, national, and international businesses.

Two Priority Sites and several housing allocations have been identified and will deliver high-quality dwellings which are well linked to the community, leisure, and recreation spaces. Three Opportunity Sites have been identified for mixed-use redevelopment and regeneration purposes.

Brierley Hill in 2041, as the borough's Strategic Centre, will be a place which has the benefit of:

• strong, resilient, and thriving communities with enhanced health and wellbeing, including access to more cultural, leisure and community facilities.
• being more than a shopping destination, including benefiting from a revitalised night-time economy and family orientated leisure facilities.
• having a greater resident population, proud to live in Brierley Hill, and living in sustainable, well built and enhanced accommodation incorporating energy efficiency measures and making active use of extensive areas of imaginatively landscaped and well-connected public spaces.
• being a much greener place, with increased tree cover and more biodiversity including wildlife corridors, which is better linked to the Saltwells and Fens Pools Nature Reserves.
• being much more accessible, especially by public transport and a network of footpaths and cycleways, with the Midland Metro Stations providing focal points within these networks and hubs for new development, with well-designed public open spaces around them; and
• having a high quality and beautiful built, natural, and historic environment that respects and enhances local character, including important historic buildings and areas, and makes effective use of the canal network as an asset.

Dudley Town Centre

The historic capital of the Black Country with a focus for tourism based on visitor attractions and the geological and heritage assets in and around the town centre, alongside new education and leisure facilities. New housing development will also regenerate parts of the town centre. High quality public transport links via the metro to the rest of the region. Two Priority Sites and four Opportunity Sites have been identified for mixed use regeneration/redevelopment alongside several housing only allocations.

Dudley is a historic market town looking to the future. By 2041 it will be a town which serves the needs of its local population, and which remains the strong focus for civic life, for town centre living, for shopping, tourism and heritage, leisure and education. This will be achieved by reshaping and reasserting its role within the borough, drawing on its considerable assets, encouraging investment in opportunities and ensuring that Dudley becomes a place with a richer mix of town centre uses and an increased resident population. The environmental and historic quality, green infrastructure, transport connectivity, accessibility and safety and security of the town centre activities and assets will be enhanced.

Stourbridge Town Centre

A town centre which has retained its market town character with well-connected public transport, including rail connections to Birmingham and Worcester. The Centre has a diverse range of uses including education, retail and day and evening leisure uses in a compact and accessible high street with connections to blue and green spaces, including parks and a canal network around which there are opportunities for investment and regeneration. Three mixed-use Opportunity Sites have been identified for regeneration purposes.

A vibrant and inclusive town with a thriving and prosperous town centre, which offers a wide range of shops and services, induing leisure facilities and an evening and entertainment economy. Stourbridge will retain its unique market town character whilst offering the arts and creative industries. It will offer excellent cultural facilities and sustainable urban living, utilising the riverside and canal-side settings, with improve connectivity to the town centre and the creation of a network of safe and attractive pedestrian and cycle routes.

Halesowen Town Centre

A compact and well-presented historic town on the border of the Black Country and Birmingham, ideal for local shopping and community activity. The town maintains its historical local character, with a key natural asset being its position alongside the River Stour Corridor and its close proximity to nearby countryside. Five mixed-use Opportunity Sites have been identified for redevelopment and regeneration.

A vibrant and accessible centre providing an attractive environment for people to live, work and invest, offering a range of uses including retail activity, employment, housing, leisure, entertainment, culture, and tourism, all of which will be served by effective and sustainable transport connections and access to natural and historical assets.

RC1 – Pensnett to Kingswinford

Hosts a strong strategic employment area and a network of busy local centres. This corridor has hosted residential redevelopment of former employment areas over the last few years and now has potential for further investment in Pensnett Estate. This corridor also has residential opportunity at the Ketley Quarry priority site.

Focus for high quality employment, encouraging investment in Pensnett Estate. Further redevelopment to provide high quality residential areas with access to recreational areas, transport network, key services and centres.

RC2 – Dudley to Brierley Hill to Stourbridge

Characterised by the Dudley and Stourbridge Canal within proximity to Brierley Hill Strategic Centre, Dudley Town Centre and Stourbridge Town Centre. Pockets of local employment provide access to jobs in this corridor. Excellent transport links with metro provision between Dudley and Brierley Hill and train links in Stourbridge.

This corridor is extremely well connected to rest of the region and hosts vibrant local centres providing access to services.

This corridor will be well connected through the provision of improved public transport with the metro between Dudley and Brierley Hill. The corridor will keep its employment focus with strategic employment area connecting centres, particularly Brierley Hill and Dudley. High quality housing to be focused in centres and along the corridor with access to enhanced green infrastructure.

Opportunities for canal side living in this corridor near to Stourbridge, as well as retention of local employment areas. Improved links to Fens Pools Nature Reserve, River Stour and open countryside.

RC3 – Stourbridge to Lye

Located along the railway line from Stourbridge, this corridor provides good transport links to employment areas and centres. The valley of the River Stour provides access to green spaces and a wildlife corridor.

High quality residential communities with access to parks, open spaces, employment, services and transport links. Lye Centre provides redevelopment opportunities for residential development and investment in local employment areas. A design code is currently being undertaken for Lye and the Stour Valley as part of the National Design Code Pathfinder Programme. This will be aligned with the plan process to improve the quality and design of new development in the area and to ensure that it reflects local character.

RC4 – Lye to Halesowen

Located from Lye, along the A458 Stourbridge Road to Halesowen Town Centre extending north to the boundary with Sandwell, this corridor provides a range of high and local quality employment, redevelopment sites for new housing, access to greenspace and local centres with regeneration opportunities.

This corridor is centred on Halesowen Town Centre and Coombswood Industrial Estate, one of the Borough's Strategic Employment areas. By 2041, this corridor will serve the demands of its employment base and provide new homes for those living and working in the Halesowen area. This corridor features regeneration opportunities in its local centres Shell Corner and The Stag. The corridor will be a significant part of the green network, supporting and encouraging biodiversity from the surrounding green belt areas and the Leasowes Historic Park.

RC5 – Dudley to Coseley

Public transport links and land becoming available for redevelopment provides opportunities for new residential development in the corridor alongside local employment retention.

Provision of high-quality residential communities and investment in local employment areas accessible by all modes of transport with links to Coseley railway station. Enhancement to open spaces including Wrens Nest National Nature Reserve and Priory Park.