CONTROVERSIAL plans to build more than 35,000 new homes in Coventry look set to be approved by the council.
Committee members at Coventry City Council will meet next week to decide whether to go ahead with the Core Strategy project.
The plans sparked fury among residents in 2007 when the council announced it planned to build on existing green spaces, and on green belt land in Potters Green, Eastern Green, and Allesley.
An eco suburb is also proposed in Keresley, which will see 3,000 new homes built plus a new country park linking it to the Coundon Wedge.
Councillor Gary Ridley, cabinet member for city development, hopes the extra houses will create jobs, and encourage more people to come into the city.
He said: “We do have to accommodate 33,500 new homes in or around Coventry.
“We are focusing on sustainable urban development first, ensuring that we don’t excessively cram development in.
“What is clear, however, is that this will involve the limited release of some green belt sites.
“But this will only be at the point in the future when the supply of brownfield sites has been used up.
“We have always been clear that the growth of Coventry will be jobs led.
“Despite the fact that this is a difficult time economically, developments in the city such as the QCA and the Severn Trent Centre are creating new jobs for local people, and for people relocating here.
“Coventry needs both executive housing to ensure we retain high earners here to live, and work, as well as affordable housing for young people looking to get on to the property ladder, and for those without access to the housing market.”
The plans include 6,000 new homes in the city centre, plus office and retail development.
Work is already underway to build 1,700 homes at the Peugeot headquarters in Stoke Aldermoor and a further 1,400 as part of the Swanswell Initiative in Hillfields.
The plans will go before the council on Tuesday, March 17, after which there will be a six-week consultation period where people can voice their support or objections.
In November last year a council planning officer told the Times that the council had already made up its mind and would go ahead with the proposals regardless of any objections from residents.
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