Draft Regulation 18 Sandwell Local Plan

The Rowley Hills

4.81 The Rowley Hills are a range of four hills – Turner's Hill, Bury Hill, Portway Hill and Darby's Hill – located mostly within Sandwell (a small section lies in Dudley^[66]). Together they form a ridge that divides the Black Country into two parts with distinctly differing topographic features. The ridge also coincides closely with the main watershed of England, between the Rivers Severn to the west and Humber to the east. Turner's Hill at 271m (870ft) is the highest point, visible from most parts of the Black Country and is a distinctive landscape feature that can be seen from the adjacent motorway and railways.

4.82 Traditionally the Hills have been the location for stone quarrying and coal mining but are now mostly used for informal recreation. The Hills have importance both for historic landscape reasons and for their value for nature conservation. Most of the Rowley Hills have either SLINC (Site of Local Importance for Nature Conservation) or SINC (Site of Importance for Nature Conservation) designations (Policy SNE2). There is a Local Nature Reserve located on Portway Hill^[67]. The Rowley Hills also form an important part of the Black Country Global Geopark designation and contain sites of geological importance and interest.

4.83 The extent of the identified Rowley Hills area is around 135ha (of which Turner's Hill covers approximately 7.3ha, Portway Hill and Bury Hill together cover around 38ha and Darby's Hill covers 4ha) and is encapsulated within the urban areas of Sandwell and Dudley.

4.84 Evidence suggests that there is pressure for additional development on the Rowley Hills. To date, the Council has been successful in preventing inappropriate development from occurring, which has been helped by SAD policy EOS3, formal recognition of the ecological and geological value of the area and through the adoption of the Rowley Hills District Plan. This sought to maintain and improve the area as open space for recreation and to protect the skyline from inappropriate and intrusive development.

Justification

4.85 The Rowley Hills form a prominent and distinctive upland landscape feature on the horizon of the Black Country.

4.86 The Rowley Hills Strategic Open Space (RHSOS) designation was identified at the time of the West Midlands Structure Plan. The local area was subject to the Rowley Hills District Plan, adopted in 1988; it was designed to addressissues considered to be of strategic significance, including minerals, waste disposal, sub-regional recreation and transportation. The importance of the open character and appearance of the Hills was also recognised, and the District Plan reiterated the need to avoid development that would adversely affect the open space and the visual amenity of the skyline.

4.87 Given their role as part of an open green wedge running between Sandwell and Dudley, their historic significance, their value for recreation and the environment and their importance as a source of minerals, the Rowley Hills were identified as performing a strategic role. While the Hills are no longer the source of active mineral extraction activity, their importance as open space, as sites of ecology and geodiversity value and as a significant and sensitive part of the skyline of the Black Country has not changed since the original designation was made. If anything, the importance of the Hills to the environment, visual amenity and the mitigation of climate change impacts has increased.

4.88 The area exists as a coherent green network of open spaces and wildlife corridors from Bumble Hole, Dudley across the top of the Rowley Hills to Wolverhampton Road, Sandwell. The RHSOS designation expresses numerous valued landscape qualities that will be protected from development:

1. highly valued open spaces for informal recreation - the network of public rights of way provides opportunities to benefit residents' physical health and well-being and provides opportunities for contact with nature within an otherwise heavily built-up area;
2. the open and undeveloped skyline, which rises above the surrounding urban areas;
3. expansive panoramic views across the Black Country and beyond;
4. multi-functional green infrastructure assets such as broadleaved woodlands, grasslands and soils that provide a range of ecosystem services for biodiversity, carbon storage and recreation;
5. a range of habitats supporting biodiversity, including deciduous woodlands, good quality semi-improved grasslands, scrub, hedgerows, ponds and canals;
6. biodiversity designations that contribute to landscape character including Warrens Hall Country Park Local Nature Reserve, three Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation, five Sites of Local Importance for Nature Conservation (Policy SEN2) and five Potential Sites of Importance^[68];
7. rich geological and industrial history, evidenced by rock exposures and residual landscape morphology associated with former industries notably former coal mining and quarrying of Rowley Ragstone, recognised through three UNESCO Black Country Global Geopark Geosites (Policy SEN4);
8. the setting to designated heritage assets, including three Grade II Listed Buildings, Cobb's Engine House Scheduled Monument, Windmill End Conservation Area, Warrens Hall Nature Reserve and Bury Hill Park Areas of High Historic Landscape Value (AHHLV) and an Archaeological Priority Area (APA);
9. relative tranquillity within enclosed and wooded parts of the designation particularly in the west.

4.89 There is a Town and Country Planning (General Development Procedure) Order 1995 Direction made under Article 4(1) to which Article 5(4) applies at land off Portway Hill that has been in place since 2007. The direction removes all permitted development rights within its boundary. This was intended to protect and preserve the openness of the area by preventing any intrusive development.

4.90 The Article 4 Direction is located at the highest western extent of Portway Hill and to the east of the summit of Turner's Hill, the highest point in the Rowley Hills at 271m AOD. Development at this open and exposed location would potentially impact on the highly valued open and undeveloped skyline and the expansive panoramic views outwards across the Black Country and beyond. For these reasons, the boundary of the Article 4 Direction remains appropriate and should be retained to preserve the openness of the area.