Sandwell motorists hit with months of parking disruption

Motorists in Sandwell are expected to be hit with months of parking disruption during the initial work for the construction of a new £3 million fire station.

From October 1 to the end of November and between March and April users of the Haden Hill Leisure Centre, Cradley Heath, will have reduced parking.

The current overflow car park which is near the Municipal Buildings will be developed as part of the fire station. There will be three temporary car parks around town which can be used at peak times.

Leisure centre bosses have said the new car park will be the first part of the development to be constructed, to ease the parking problems at the centre.

Some leisure centre users already use the surrounding streets to park on, and it is feared the problem will only get worse during the car park closure.

The eight-week demolition is due to start on October 1, and from that point the already busy overflow car park at the Barrs Road centre will be out of use.

The car park will then reopen at the end of November, but close again in March until the end of April when the construction work of the new car park will take place.

During these periods motorists will be asked to park at Haden Hill House, Haden Hill Park and at Old Hill Tennis Club.

Users of the leisure centre will be issued with temporary authorised parking permits which they can display in their cars whilst they are using these car parks.

Customers are being urged to share cars or get public transport to the centre to avoid disruption.

Parking at the temporary car parks will be available from 4pm to 10pm Monday to Friday, and 8am to 1pm on Saturday and all day on Sunday.

The first images of what the new fire station will look like are on display at the leisure centre. The planning application will be submitted a week on Monday.