New homes soon to open in Bentley

A £16million scheme to build 130 new homes on derelict sites in Bentley is moving into its final phase.

The four-storey Parsons House is being built in Churchill Road in place of the former Old Hall pub. The old pub was bulldozed in 2007 after a fire.

The new Walsall Housing Group's (WHG) "spectacular" complex which includes 60 homes for over-55s is expected to be finished by November and the majority of construction work is now done with interior work progressing.

WHG is now just waiting for planning permission from Walsall Council to install 19 solar panels.

Its completion will mark the final piece in the jigsaw for WHG's transformation of four sites in Bentley, all within walking distance of each other.

A neighbouring development featuring 18 homes in Churchill Road on the former Bentley Clinic has now finished with tenants moved in.

A development at the former Fairview and Grange tower blocks has also been completed as has another scheme in Appleyard Close, behind the Bentley shops.

Construction work was delayed at the former clinic site after a housebuilder hit financial difficulties. Coleshill-based firm Frank Haslam Milan (FHM) stepped in to complete the project and work continued last November after a three-month hold-up.

Jack Coafferty, a technician at BM3 Architecture, on behalf of WHG, said Parsons House was starting to look "spectacular," adding: "It's a large block, defining the Bentley area itself."

The scheme is being funded by WHG, the Government's Homes and Communities Agency and VIEW, the regeneration fund jointly managed by WHG and Walsall Council.

The Old Hall pub, which used to occupy the site, had to be bulldozed in 2007 after a fire ripped through the first floor of the derelict building in a suspected arson attack.

Before the blaze in October, families living nearby had complained about yobs gathering at the former drinking spot and repeatedly damaging it.