RESIDENTS are being invited to have their say on the revised blueprint for Wyre Forest which features some 200 proposed changes to the district.

The most significant proposed alterations to the Local Plan include the identification of the former British Sugar site on Stourport Road as a key redevelopment opportunity creating jobs. The deletion of a number of sites earmarked for housing include the Lea Castle Hospital site at Wolverley where 80 homes were due to be built.

Other changes mooted include the abandonment of the Kidderminster, Blakedown and Hagley bypass and the related Kidderminster southern bypass following an objection by the Government Office for the West Midlands.

Noel Holdstock, forward planning manager with Wyre Forest District Council, said: "We are now approximately halfway through the preparation of a new plan for the district and we need to know what local residents, businesses and interest groups think about the changes identified."

Nearly 1,000 representations have been submitted in respect of the plan which will set the framework for planning decisions in the district until 2011.

The draft plan review, which got under way on Thursday, will continue until May 16 and a roadshow will visit Cookley Parish Hall on Monday from 2pm until 8pm and the Corn Exchange, Kidderminster, on Tuesday and Wednesday from 10am until 8pm and 6pm respectively.

Copies of the proposed plan can be inspected at Land Oak House, Chester Road North, Kidderminster, and the Civic Centre, Stourport.

Following the latest consultation, there will be a public inquiry into the plan in October/November with final modifications in August to September, 2003, before it is adopted the following December.

Further information is available from the council's planning department on 01562 732557.