A LYE reverend says local residents were misled by Dudley Council over plans that are seeing a village green turned into a housing development.

Twelve bungalows are currently being built on the Malvern Avenue Green, a piece of land which has been used for leisure purposes for many years by residents on the New Farm Estate.

Rev Tom Fish, of Christ Church Lye, said plans were not submitted until last December and has accused the council of rushing planning permission through before people had chance to object.

He said: “Local residents were very unhappy about the plan. I was hoping to be able to present the extent of their objections to the planning committee but I never had the chance.

“They told me we had three months to object but when I rang back to check on February 6, they said objections closed that very day.

“Then they said it was approved because not many people had objected but we had been misled over the dates.

“I feel like the proper process has not been followed and now the space is a building site, never to be available for the community again. It is too late to stop that but I just hope lessons can be learned.”

His concerns were supported by Councillor Richard Body, who feels the development should never have been given the green light.

Cllr Body said: “This piece of grass was an island, an oasis, of open space, instead of people living on top of each other, which is what it will now become.

“It was somewhere you could hold events and where the people in the community would come together. They could do all sorts of things as long as they had that piece of land.

“There must have been a reason when they built the estate why they left that land there – so why was it a good idea then and not now? Why is it now a good idea to build on every bit of green land?

“If this was an affluent area, that land would be called a village green – and no way would they have been able to touch it. But in a working class area, it’s an easy target.

“And I can’t understand why it didn’t go to development control. It seemed like officers quickly nudged it through.”

However, Councillor Ian Kettle, Dudley Council cabinet member for regeneration and enterprise, said: “All planning applications follow a standard procedure, which includes encouraging local residents, businesses and interested parties to comment and make any legitimate objections, and we are confident this has been correctly followed in this case.”