Council land to be sold for new homes

Acres of council-owned land in Sandwell is set to be sold off to make way for dozens of new homes in West Bromwich, Tipton, Wednesbury and Rowley Regis.

Housing associations are being invited to bid for the sites. The decision was approved in a meeting by Sandwell's housing chief, Councillor Mahboob Hussain. The sites earmarked are in Reservoir Road, Rowley Regis, Oxford Street/Oxford Terrace in Wednesbury, Witton Lane in West Bromwich, Strathmore Road in Tipton and Coppice Street, West Bromwich.

In total, around four acres of land are up for sale.

Councillor Hussain, said: "The council is committed to building social housing, but we look for different avenues where we can get more social housing.

"This is one avenue. The others are private sector rented accommodation, then there's section 106 agreements when large developments take place.

"The council is also considering putting a bid together where we are able to build our own council houses."

He added: "We have got six different housing associations who are interested in bidding.

"What we will do is ask them to put a bid together as a starting point and we will ask them to come up with the proposals."

The disposal of the land, which could see it either sold or leased to the successful housing association, is aimed to meet housing needs with the emphasis on providing affordable housing.

A report to Councillor Hussain's cabinet advisory team meeting on June 12 said the recent downturn in the housing market had hampered the ability of developers to buy and redevelop land offered on the open market, with a number of sites failing to sell.

The report said that the only portion of the affordable housing market which has not been so severely restricted by the market downturn was the development of affordable housing options with public subsidy in the form of a Social Housing Grant.