Cradley Heath community centre set to be demolished to make way for council housing

Sandwell Council has revealed plans to knock down Cradley Heath Community Centre in Reddal Hill Road, Cradley Heath, to make way for around 13 new council homes.

The community centre is used by the Citizens Advice Bureau and drugs and alcohol support groups as well as Yemeni Community Assocation for English classes

The centre also hosts exercise, dance and art classes, a youth club, boxing, martial arts and karate groups, a children’s soft play, and yoga and Tai Chi classes.

The cabinet report said the former primary school was now “surplus to all council use” and its running costs had become a “significant expenditure.”

Labour-run Sandwell Council has set a savings target of £2.5m in its property management budget – the buildings it owns and runs – this year.

The community centre, a former primary school that was converted in the early 1980s, was run by Sandwell Community Hubs until 2022 when it was handed back to Sandwell Council.

The centre costs around £54,000 a year to run, according to Sandwell Council, with repairs amounting to at least £11,000 a year.

The building would need at least £350,000 to repair in the next five years and at least a further £150,000 in the next two decades. The building’s budget would be “exhausted within the next six months,” the cabinet report added.

The council said it would be kicking out community organisations and groups but help them relocate to new venues.

Haden Hill Leisure Centre has been suggested as a potential location for some of the sports clubs and community organisations and groups to relocate to – but that facility is in the process of being demolished to make way for a new leisure centre.

The leisure centre is not expected to re-open until at least May 2027.

The town’s library and fire station, Salvation Army, Community Link, the Cradley Sports and Social Club and Luxor Events, the former Regis, have also been touted as alternate venues.