Council insists 100-year-old Halesowen hedge must go

Developer Ling Homes does not want to remove the hedge and has pledged to give the £70k it will cost to charity if the council agrees the work doesn't have to be done.

The Wordsley-based firm built eleven homes on the site of the former British Legion building in 2019 - the scheme is called the Copper Beech development.

As a condition of the build it must widen the road - the developer has tried to drop the road widening plan - but the council insisted it go ahead.

Our Lady and St Kenelm School (which is on Bundle Hill) and councillor Alan Taylor backed the bid to drop the road widening.

Matthew Ling, construction director at Ling Homes said the firm does not want to rip the hedge out - but that it will have to be removed in August, during the school holidays.

He said: "The hedge has been there 100 years - the sensible thing would be to leave it there.

"It's pointless because you will never get two-way traffic on that road because of the cars that park by the flats.

"We would be willing to give the £70k cost to the school or to charity if the council would agree the work doesn't have to be done, but it seems without more public support it will have to go ahead."

Dudley Council said the work is in the "interests of public safety."

Councillor Simon Phipps, cabinet member for regeneration and enterprise, said: “The new development on Bundle Hill was approved with the condition that this road must be improved by the developer of the new houses.

"This involves road widening, which impacts on the hedgerow as it currently restricts the width of the road.

"These works are in the interest of public safety given this is a hazardous access road for residential developments and a primary school. Ultimately, the safety of local people must be prioritised.

"The majority of the work is expected to take place over the summer holidays so as not to cause major disruption to local people during term time.

"We will continue to work with the developer to review progress and ensure they carry out that work appropriately and safely."

The netting over the hedge is controversial as it could allow birds to become stuck and even killed as a result.

It is designed to stop birds nesting, but has a huge gap. The method of netting hedges has been criticised by conservationists.

There was national outcry over the practice, with a petition calling for it to be made illegal attracting more than 300,000 signatures, saying developers should "enhance natural environments, not destroy them."

The Government has said that bird netting should be "kept to a minimum, and only used to help protect birds during development", but stopped short of outlawing the practice as campaigners asked for.

Mr Ling said: "It's not 100 per cent effective, but it's what we have to do. It's part of our condition that it be netted as we can't do the work until August. If we didn't net it we couldn't take it out."