A GOLF course looks set to be used to help solve the threat of flooding on a new housing development in Oldbury.

Bovis Homes was given approval to build 117 homes on the former Sandwell Council campus in Pound Road back in March 2010, but since then the area has been classified as a flood zone.

Now the applicant has submitted proposals to Sandwell Council to use part of nearby Brandhall Golf Course on Heron Road to store and then release flood waters.

Planning documents submitted to Sandwell Council state: “It is proposed to create a flood storage area at the downstream extent of the golf course.

It goes on: “The proposed works involve the part diversion of the brook and the creation of a raised embankment across the flood plain to create a physical barrier to flood water, which would then be stored during flood events and then controllably released.

“The embankment would be approx 250m in length and up to 2.5m high.”

The report notes a significant number of mature and semi mature trees would be lost at rear of numbers eight to 16 Heron Road, but that the applicant proposes to plant a line of trees on the site boundary.

Letters of objection have been received from four homes on Heron Road citing loss of privacy and reduced security caused by the embankment.

The proposal has been recommended for approval with conditions. Sandwell Council’s planning committee is set to make a site visit before a decision is made at a meeting on March 27.