Mines under Walsall club 'are a ticking time bomb'

Bloxwich-firm Simco has pulled out of plans to demolish Birchills Liberal Club and create around 35 flats, citing issues with the ground.

The firm's owner, John Simmons, said that the entire area 'was on stilts' because limestone mines underneath were left untreated in the 1990s when the Government filled others in around Walsall and the Black Country.

He claimed that his company had been left £73,000 out of pocket due to money spent on ecological surveys – only now to be told that Walsall Council's ecological expert will never support development on the site.

Mr Simmons said: "Apparently back in the 1990s the Government filled in the limestone shafts apart from this one area. The place is really a ticking time bomb. We believed there were a couple of unstable areas because of the mine shafts.

"It turned out the places we identified are the only ones with ground left in there. Basically it is on stilts, the rest is floating on thin air. It is completely open. It is an accident waiting to happen really. My argument to the council is what are they going to do about it."

The firm had a similar bid – this time for 48 flats – rejected by the council in 2014 for a number of reasons, including a lack of evidence to demonstrate the land stability.

But Mr Simmons claimed his company was 'encouraged' by the authority to put in another application providing they carried out extra surveys in the area.

He added: "After the last one was refused the council encouraged us to carry out extra surveys but never advised us that we would never be able to develop on there. We spent £73,000 on all sorts of surveys. It is really annoying."

The Liberal club's new manager Kerry Arnold-Welsh said: "There is mine shafts underneath but I think there would only be a problem if it was developed in the future. It is safe at the moment."

Steve Pretty, head of planning, engineering and transportation at the council, said: "The scale and size of both an old coal mine and

old limestone workings in this area were not fully known at the time of the original application due to lack of a ground condition survey being undertaken by the applicant resulting in our refusal.

"The applicants were advised to undertake a survey and information was provided by the council to the applicants to assist them in undertaking this work.

"The applicants chose not to do so and instead withdrew the application. The council's geotechnical engineer's position has been consistent throughout this process."