Wolverhampton Halfway House apartments set to get go ahead

Senior planning officers have recommended approval of the development next to the Halfway House pub, which closed eight years ago.

The flats would sit at the back of Mill Stream Pharmacy - which moved into the once famous landmark on Tettenhall Road in 2014. The adjoining land has remained derelict since the pub was shut in 2008 following noise complaints about the pub's music system.

The developers want to build 20 two and three-bedroom apartments along with 30 car parking spaces. The entrance to the homes will be via Paget Road. A floor plan shows how the ground-floor flats facing the back will have patios and that some of the bedrooms will be en-suite.

Approval is conditional on a £53,400 contribution to be spent on improvements to West Park and five of the homes being affordable.

The application has received a mixed reaction from local residents. Councillor Claire Darke, cabinet member for education and ward representative, said some of her residents were in favour of the plan but others were against.

Kamran Khan, Conservative Party campaigner in the Park ward, said many people were concerned about traffic problems, warning that people leaving the redeveloped site and turning right would often find themselves trying to turn into a queue for the lights at the junction.

Nine written objections have been received, citing likely access problems, insufficient parking, out-of-character design and flooding concerns.

Health firm Lyric Ltd, which acquired the 19th century building and its adjoining acre-and-a-quarter plot in 2011, started redevelopment work in 2013 as part of plans to turn the property into an all-in-one medical centre.

The pharmacy took over the ground floor of the property after shutting its previous base in nearby Clark Road. After the building was closed, plans were quickly submitted by Dr Simon Taylor to move his surgery from 80 Tettenhall Road to the abandoned Halfway House at 115 Tettenhall Road.

A dentistry practice, Smile Works, opened at the site last March. Permission for a medical surgery and an optician's was approved in 2012 but has not been implemented.

Initially, the Campaign for Real Ale objected to the plans claiming the building could still be turned back into a thriving pub.

Regulars were left stunned by the bar's overnight closure months after its landlords, father and son Jerry and Jeremy Collins, were ordered by a court to shut early following complaints from nearby residents about noise.

Enterprise Inns, which put the business – but not the building – on the market for £13,840, maintained interest in it had been great and that a new landlord was waiting in the wings to take it over.

They vowed the premises would re-open in time for Christmas but repeated promises that a new landlord would be in place 'within weeks' came to nothing and in August the windows were boarded up with metal covers to deter vandals.

The new plans state that the apartment building will be three storeys high, lower at the back and taller at the front.

A decision on the application will be made at the planning meeting on Tuesday February 2.