Plan for old Baggeridge Brickworks site

A former brickworks in South Staffordshire is set to be demolished and replaced with a craft village and 140 homes.

The plan will transform the old Baggeridge Brickworks site, in Gospel End.

Homes will be built on the land while 12 buildings will be offered to craft workers to run their own shops.

A nursing home is also to be built and land developed for an extension of the neighbouring Baggeridge Country Park. Part of the site will also be landscaped for community use.

If approved, it will be the end of the site's long association with brickmaking which stretches back to the 1930s.

The site was once part of the Earl of Dudley's Baggeridge Colliery where bricks were made as a sideline to mining operations. It proved such a success that Baggeridge Brick was formed as a separate company in 1944.

The company was taken over by Austrian firm Weinerberger in 2008.

Bosses have submitted plans in partnership with David Wilson Homes.

Agents for David Wilson said the site had not been used for brickmaking for some time and is presently a storage site for stock.

Previous attempts to sell the site for industrial use have failed, leading to the new scheme. Both firms will retain ownership of the craft village as an investment, with firms able to lease the buildings.

Four buildings on the site are to be retained, including the brickworks' landmark chimney. Two other buildings used by a model railway group and ambulance service will be kept and another site, formerly offices for the brickworks, will be refurbished.

South Staffordshire Council is expected to discuss the scheme next March. If approved, work is scheduled to begin late next year.