A NEW housing estate with 66 homes is being planned for the former MEB headquarters in Halesowen.

A planning application has been submitted for the new housing estate to Dudley Council by A&J Mucklow Investments.

However, a raft objections have been lodged by local councillors, residents and West Midlands Fire Service on several grounds including traffic problems and the loss of mature trees.

Former Halesowen North councillor Jeff Hill believes the extra traffic will add to the congestion problems on Mucklow Hill and Stag island.

He said: "Everyone I have spoken to had very serious conerns about the access to and from the site.

"There are already either solid queues or a steady stream of traffic heading up Mucklow Hill to the Stag Island for large parts of the day.

"Vehicles leaving the existing office complex adjacent to the application site often end up sitting in the hatched area in the middle of the road, waiting for a gap in the traffic.

"From personal experience I know it can be extremely difficult to judge what those vehicles are going to do, and whether it is safer to let them out or leave them there."

He added: "To compound the problem a planning application has been submitted for Streetbike at the Stag island to be converted to a number of retail units, including a convenience store.

"If either of these applications is to be approved a fundamental review of the both the layout of Mucklow Hill and the junction at the Stag would be required."

The new residential development will comprise of three buildings, block A will have eight three and four bedroom townhouses, block B will have seven one and two bedroom apartments and block C will have 51 two and three bedroom apartments.

Planning consent was given for a "high quality residential development" at the site in 2006.