Crumbling Bilston shop is a danger, council told
A derelict shop unit has been labelled a "serious hazard" after bricks and scaffolding started falling from it – months after builders were injured when part of it collapsed.
Children are said to often stand outside the former toy shop in Bilston High Street and eat chips on their way home from school.
But bricks and even a metal bar have dropped onto the pavement.
No-one has been hurt but nearby resident John Sheffield says the building, which has been empty for 10 years, is "incredibly dangerous".
The 62-year-old maintenance worker said: "If these objects had struck any of the hundreds of people who walk past this shop everyday, they could have have been killed.
"The metal bar itself weighs several kilograms and there are others just about to fall. My wife first contacted the council to express our concerns about the dangerous state of this building, in January 2009. I have been in touch with them sending them pictures expressing my concerns."
The front of the shop was cordoned off last year after part of it collapsed in June leaving two builders injured.
The men were renovating the property when the second floor they were standing on collapsed.
Mr Sheffield, who walks past the site every day, said: "I was alarmed the other day to see that the cordons had been removed and there were groups of school children standing immediately in front of the shop eating their bags of chips.
"Now the building is falling down onto the footpath right were they were stood.
"It is a serious hazard and I am worried there could be a bad accident." Ward councillor Stephen Simkins said the council planned to buy the shop under a Compulsory Purchase Order to make way for a tree-lined boulevard as part of a revamp of Bilston town centre.
