Plan for 300 homes unveiled

Plans to build 300 homes on a former mining site in Tipton have been unveiled.

The scheme involves demolishing industrial units in Newcomen Drive before stabilising the land and creating the housing.

The site is sandwiched between Coneygre industrial estate, a playing field and an arts centre on open space in Newcomen Drive which is popular with dog walkers.

It was originally an area where deposits of soil and spillage were deposited.

Mintworth Transport Ltd has submitted an application to Sandwell Council for the homes scheme.

Company spokesman Paul Hill said: "The company owns the site and is currently looking for outline permission, for the principle for using it for housing.

"This would include stabilising the site as, like many sites in the Black Country, mining has gone on there in the past.

"There are no detailed plans for the houses themselves at the moment, although it will be family-style accommodation, and there are no plans for flats."

Councillor Ian Jones, councillor for Tipton Green, said he would be supporting the views of local people.

"The residents of Newcomen Drive itself need to be protected from over-intensification, and I will be checking the plans carefully to ensure this is the case," he said.

"There have been applications made previously to develop this site which haven't been accepted."