Mineshaft unearthed at police station site

Workers building Bilston's new £3.5 million police station made a surprising discovery when they unearthed a 9ft by 82ft mineshaft.

The shock find was made during work to stabilise the ground for the eagerly-awaited new station.

Work to replace the 170-year-old station, West Midlands Police's second oldest base, started in mid- December. But employees at Greswolde Construction were shocked to discover the mineshaft and have battled to keep work on schedule.

Site manager Dave Jenkins said they had to act fast to get the shaft under concrete wraps and make sure work stayed on track.

He added: "We knew this was a coal mining area and our drilling experts were on site to grout the coal seams but the shaft was quite a surprise.

"It was a shaft that was full of pit workings. The lads were already on site and managed to cap it and keep the work on track," said Mr Jenkins.

West Midlands Police have said the former Bilston police station in Mount Pleasant is no longer fit for purpose and are expected to unveil the new base, in Oxford Street, in September this year.

The grade II listed former station was built in 1840 at a time when police earned 17 shillings a week.

New images released today show how the completed building will look.

Architect Roy Pugh, of Brierley Hill-based Jennings Homer & Lynch, has tried to reflect Bilston's historic red brick style in his three-storey design.

"The new sector station faces the War Memorial on its public entrance site and the main Black Country Route on another so we have given it two front elevations," said Mr Pugh.

A steel bridge has been added to link the public entrance to the station. A spokesman for West Midlands Police said: "It no longer meets modern policing requirements and the new site will be more central as the regeneration of the area unfolds and Bilston urban village shifts the focal point of the town, making the new station more accessible to the public."