Estate of 200 homes on Rowley Regis haulage firm's premises moves step nearer
Plans for more than 200 homes on the site of a haulage firm's plant in Rowley Regis have taken a step forward.
The site in Doulton Road is currently home to French logistics firm Norbert Dentressangle.
But proposals to build homes and apartments on the land were supported by members of Sandwell Council's planning committee.
The scheme will now have to go before the full council for the final decision to be made.
It comes after bosses at the firm announced in August last year that they would be relocating its business to the East Midlands, with the loss of 140 jobs.
Workers have been given the chance to transfer to the new site.
The firm is expecting to have fully vacated the site by May. Lotra Limited, which owns the site on Doulton Road, has submitted a planning application to demolish all of the buildings currently there, and replace them with 218 properties.
The firm says there is 'no reasonable prospect' of the site being used for employment purposes in the future.
The plans are for a mixture of two to four bedroom houses and one to two bedroom apartments.
There would also be a 432-metre-square retail unit, with the occupier as yet unidentified.
Some of the members of the planning committee had visited the site earmarked for the development ahead of the meeting.
Councillor Barbara Price said she supported the plans but was concerned about extra traffic using Doulton Road, particularly near the junction with Dudley Road.
"We get extremely heavy traffic along the top of Doulton Road," she said.
But she was told by chairman Councillor Steven Freer that work to improvement to improve the junction to make it safer for motorists was due to take place in the next financial year.
The planning report submitted to the local authority stated the plan was for 'redevelopment of an industrial site which is reaching the end of its operational life for employment purposes within Rowley Regis, which is located on the fringe of existing industrial business developments and in the majority surrounded by residential developments'.
The company had previously mooted plans for a housing development on the site.
