Plan for homes to replace Halesowen fire station

A fire station which closed as part of a cost-cutting review by West Midlands Fire Service will be demolished and replaced with housing under new plans.

Halesowen Fire Station shut in April despite a public campaign to save it from closure. It followed the merger of Halesowen and Cradley Heath fire stations and the axing of one of the two 24-hour crews.

The decision followed in the wake of the fire service being hit with £10 million in government funding cuts between 2011 and 2013.

Now fire chiefs are seeking planning permission for the housing development ahead of putting the building on the market.

A new £3 million fire station serving both Halesowen and Cradley Heath will be built on the site of former municipal buildings in Halesowen Road, Cradley Heath.

Firefighters based in Halesowen have been redeployed to other stations in the area until new fire hub opens.

A planning application for new homes on the site of old Halesowen station has been submitted to Dudley Council.

The proposals are for a mix of two and three bedroom homes, a report by agent Rob Duncan says.

"It is anticipated that they will be of typical brick and tile construction to reflect the established character of the wider residential area," he adds.

The Cradley Heath station will also be sold off to help make £1.5m from the sale of the two sites.

Campaigners had battled to save the Halesowen station but the costs of the legal battle proved too heavy for them to continue the fight.

They would have needed to find up to £60,000 to fund a planned judicial review.

One of their main concerns was they feared the merger would leave the area poorly protected in an emergency. In 2010-11, Halesowen attended about 535 incidents. Cradley Heath firefighters went out to about 1,000.

By Heather Large