COUNCILLORS are being urged to bring a resolution to Monday’s Dudley Council meeting calling for controversial proposals to industrialise Halesowen’s greenbelt to be quashed.

Protest leader Mick Freer is calling for a named vote if it is put to the meeting, demanding “it’s time the council put their cards on the table”.

He is urging Halesowen councillors to call for the rejection of the potential release of a strategic regional employment site in the vicinity of junction 3 of the M5.

Mr Freer, who is secretary of the Hales Owen Abbey Trust is calling on councillors to reject the study into proposals that could lead to the industrialisation of any part of the countryside around Lapal.

The 12 Halesowen councillors have stated their opposition to the plan, which would destroy an estimated 240 acres of countryside bordered by the M5 and Manor Way.

But Halesowen South councillor David Vickers said he did not know whether they would be constitutionally allowed to bring the resolution to Monday’s full council.

A study into the proposal, which would create up to 6,000 jobs and generate investment of more than £300 million, has already been authorised by Dudley Council’s cabinet.

Cllr Vickers said the way forward would be discussed at the Conservative group meeting tomorrow night (Thursday).

Halesowen North Labour councillor and cabinet member for environmental services Hilary Bills said she was also unsure about whether the resolution could be tabled but added she would support it if it was possible.

Council leader Cllr Pete Lowe said a more detailed report will be represented to the meeting, where members will have an opportunity to discuss the matter in more detail.

He added: “A group of councillors have requested that this issue be looked at through the council’s scrutiny process.

“The overview and scrutiny management board will hold a meeting in due course to look at this in detail.”

Meanwhile, a Save Halesowen Countryside Facebook page has attracted almost 1,500 members and more than 4,000 people have signed two online petitions against the proposals, which form part of a bid to set up a West Midlands Combined Authority.

Members of the public, councillors and council officers are invited to a mass three-mile circular walk of the threatened land on Saturday July 18 at 10am from Woodgate Valley Country Park Visitor Centre, Clapgate Lane.

Conservationist and abbey trust member Roy Burgess, who will lead the walk, said it would be a chance for people to see the “beautiful countryside” which would be lost.

Protester Sophie Harmer-Knight has launched a crowd funding bid to buy half an acre of land next to the service station on Manor Way, which is up for auction next Tuesday with a guide price of £20,000.

She plans that, if successful, the former Little Chef site would be split into individual freehold parcels in an attempt to scupper plans for the development.