Wyre Forest district needs to see an average of 200 homes built every year until 2026 to meet a local need for 4,000 new homes in a 20-year period from 2006.

Despite the slow pace of the economy, some 1,200 homes have been completed in the last five years.

As part of the recent building programme, the Community Housing Group has been particularly active, building more than 180 ‘affordable’ homes since 2006.

Barratts are completing the 146 home Lichfield Basin scheme in Stourport and Churchill Retirement Homes have just started work on a site in Vale Road, Stourport.

The Badgers Dean development in Franchise Street and Castle Locks development in Castle Road are nearing completion in Kidderminster and work is expected to start later this year on a new development of 69 new homes at Puxton. There are 1,170 additional homes in the pipeline with planning permission.

Councillor John Campion, Wyre Forest District Council leader and cabinet member for economic development and regeneration, said “Looking forward we have a number of exciting plans in the Local Development Framework to regenerate key sites for housing that will provide a major boost to the economy with jobs in construction and the supply chain.

“In the meantime it has been pleasing to see a significant number of new homes completed in the district during these difficult times.”

As reported last week, the district council has firmly backed the development of new homes in the Churchfields area of Kidderminster.

The plan is to build more than 600 new homes within this area, making it the largest single concentration of home building in the district. This will make the most of the area’s environmental and heritage assets including the canal. The district council is also proposing a significant development of homes as part of a mixed use development of the former British Sugar factory.

This follows the outcome of a Public Examination last year. This established a need for some flexibility in order to facilitate the opening up of the site for new employment generation.

At 24 hectares, the site is extremely large and it was explained that a purely business-based development of the site was unlikely to be viable.

A new development concept plan for the former British Sugar site makes provision for approximately 320 new homes as part of a mixed use regeneration that could include commercial uses, tourism and leisure in addition to around 12 hectares of traditional business development in support of the proposed Enterprise Zone bid.

Mr Campion explained: “The British Sugar site is the largest brownfield site west of Birmingham and the evidence suggests we need to think creatively about its future.

“That is why we have put it at the heart of an Enterprise Zone bid. These latest proposals for a mix of uses will further help to stimulate the development of the site and contribute towards much-needed infrastructure.”

In Stourport, the programme seeks to role out proposals for the ‘eastern approaches’ which includes major new house building at the former Parsons Chain factory and Baldwin Road. In the rural areas, there are proposals to develop the former Blakedown Nurseries and Sebright Road in Fairfield.

Councillor Julian Phillips, cabinet member for place shaping, said: “We have a number of challenges in meeting housing needs and affordability within the district and we are looking to tackle these.

“We want to make sure we get new homes in the right locations and we would like to know the views of communities about sites for new housing in their area.”