The Joint Green Belt Study (January 2009) said that Blachdown was not a suitable area for development. Point 7.32 of the "Justification for the Preferred Option for the Location of New Housing" overrides this on the grounds that ¬there ara clear boundaries to the site to protect the open countryside`. They consider a road to be a clear boundary (as in the case of Sandy Lane) The A445 (Leicester Lane) is already a `clear boundary` but they wish to put more than a thousand houses, car parks and retail outlets on the Greenbelt land beyond it.
Food production is likely to be a bigger problem than housing and this is excellent agricultural land which yields reliable harvests year after year. Furthermore there are drainage ditches running through the middle and a deep well, all of which would be hazardous in a residential area.