Pub landlord calls time on giant slide

A pub landlord has decided to take down a giant slide at the centre of a long-running dispute after temporary planning permission expired.

John Coombes has called time on the 9ft slide at The Summerhouse, in Gospel End Road, Sedgley, with work to dismantle the structure now under way.

It brings to an end years of fighting to keep the slide after neighbours complained about the levels of noise and its use.

But he still plans to have a slide at the site next summer – in an inflatable version.

Mr Coombes was granted temporary permission for the attraction by South Staffordshire Council in 2009, but the period has now expired.

And the landlord said while he had been given the option to resubmit an application to keep the slide he simply did not have the resources to start the process again.

"It would be like starting from scratch," he said."Nothing has changed from when the application was approved in 2009 but we would have to submit exactly the same plans and go through the same process all over again."