New 'super tip' planned for historic factory site in Walsall

Walsall Council has chosen the site of the former McKechnie Brass factory on Middlemore Lane, Aldridge to build a new waste transfer station, which bosses say the borough is in desperate need of.

The authority has bought the site from its previous owner after plans to create new industrial units stalled, the Express & Star has learned.

Demolition of the former brass factory, which once employed more than 1,000 in Walsall, has already begun.

The "super tip" could be up and running in two to three years, if it secures approval from planning bosses, and would result in the closure of the tip at Merchants Way and the outdated site at Friars Road, Bloxwich, being scaled down.

Council officials have been searching for an ideal site for a new tip in recent years and have decided McKechnie Brass fits the bill.

Councillor Oliver Butler, environment boss at Walsall Council, said: "The life of Friar Road, Bloxwich, has expired. The building is worn, is small and doesn't accommodate our needs.

"Middlemore Lane ticks all those boxes. In future 60 per cent of waste will need to be recycled under Government regulations so it's future-proofing ourselves. Operationally, it's also better as we won't have bin lorries queueing all the way up the road as we do as Friars Road at the moment.

"There are few other sites capable in the borough that could take it. It also brings a derelict site back into use."

Aldridge councillor John Murray welcomed the plans to redevelop the derelict site which has been targeted by vandals and arsonists since closing seven years ago.

McKechnie dated back more than a century but shut down amid debts of £3.8 million, causing 60 job losses. Before its closure, the site was thought to be the UK’s last remaining factory making brass rods and copper wires for a range of products including copper alloys and padlocks. Plans to redevelop the site into a trading estate were shelved in 2017.

Bulldozers have begun tearing down the huge factory, with around a quarter of the site cleared.

Councillor Murray said: "I'm really pleased that after many years of remaining a derelict site the former McKechnie Brass may be developed and put to good use. It's been an eyesore for many years.

"As local councillors our role is to make sure what is planned to be there is commensurate with the commercial and industrial environment in that part of Aldridge."