Decision due on historic West Bromwich High Street site left empty after Black Country Museum move

The planning application would see 26 ‘affordable’ flats built on the corner of Lombard Street West and West Bromwich High Street, next to the town’s newly-restored library, if approved by Sandwell Council’s planning committee.

The land was home to the town’s crumbling former gas showroom before it was demolished in 2017 with parts of the building, which had been a fixture of West Bromwich High Street for more than 75 years but later described as a ‘blight’ after years of neglect, relocated to the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley. 

Sandwell Council’s planning officers have recommended the application is approved when the authority’s planning committee meets on January 8.

The application by the Black Country Housing Group said the new flats would have a “distinctive modern and contemporary aesthetic” and would be a “striking new addition” to West Bromwich High Street.

The land that housed the former gas showroom was bought by the Black Country Housing Group in 2022.

Sandwell Council said it accepted a lower offer of £270,000 to have complete control over tenancies for all the homes planned for the former showroom land. A higher offer of £427,000 for the land was rejected as it would have only offered nomination rights for six homes, the council said. 

Last year, the go-ahead was given for the former gas showroom to be rebuilt as part of its 1940s-1960s village. The bad state of the building meant a ‘brick-by-brick’ rebuild was not possible.

The £7.5m year-long restoration and renovation of West Bromwich Town Hall and Central Library was completed in November.

Plans to convert Grade II listed former offices on the opposite side of West Bromwich High Street into a 36-bed house of multiple occupation (HMO) were revealed earlier this month.