Former pit worker homes to be demolished

Flats built to house pit workers in the 1960s are set to disappear from the Great Barr skyline.

Planning bosses have given permission for a block of two storey maisonettes in Stafford Court off West Road to be razed to the ground as clearance of a trouble-plagued area continues. The demolition is earmarked to make way for new houses and the land could be sold off to developers or form part of the proposed biggest wave of new council housing to be built since the 1970s.

The application to flatten numbers 41 to 79 has been formally approved by planning officers using delegated powers, paving the way for the bulldozers to roll in.

The flats are already empty and sit opposite the site of the former Pepys Court block which was demolished as part of the scheme two years ago.

Housing chief Councillor Mahboob Hussain said once the demolition was completed the whole site would be looked at for future housing. "Internal stripping will take place over the next four weeks or so and it is hoped the demolition will be completed by the end of the year," he said.

Sandwell regeneration chief, Councillor Bob Badham, added the demolition was part of an ongoing improvement scheme for the borough.

"Obviously we want to improve areas by getting rid of these old style maisonettes and to bring in better quality housing," he said.

"It will be knocked down and used for better quality housing in the future."

Barriers will be put in place to stop traffic driving down the Stafford Way cul-de-sac while the demolition work is carried out.

Last summer a handful of tenants living in Stafford Court said they had been plagued by problems including rubbish uncollected, vermin and yobs breaking into empty homes. The maisonettes were part of a 1960s estate built for pit workers from the former Hamstead Colliery.