New homes plan for old Stokes Forgings metal firm site
More than 140 homes could be built on the site of a former Dudley metal firm that employed hundreds of people.
Countryside Properties has submitted proposals to Dudley Council to build 141 houses on the former Stokes Forgings' hammer forging plant in Cochrane Road, Brierley Hill.
The business, which made car parts for the automotive industry, employed 220 people at its sites in Cochrane Road and nearby Vine Street.
The Vine Street site closed at the end of February 2011, with Stokes Forging ceasing operations at other site in September last year – leaving it vacant.
Planning permission has already been granted to demolish the buildings on Cochrane Road.
The proposals feature two, three and four-bedroom houses, two-bedroom bungalows and one-bedroom apartments.
The homes will be accessed from both Cochrane Road and Vine Street, with the area set to receive a West Midlands Metro stop nearby when the Wednesbury to Brierley Hill extension line is completed in 2023.
A report from the developers said: "Since the decline of the metal working industries this has paved the way for alternative development uses in the area for more housing, office uses and retail.
"The application site represents an opportunity to deliver much needed housing for Brierley Hill and the wider area by redevelopment of a brownfield site which has been demonstrated as being unattractive for employment uses.
"By delivering 141 affordable units on the site, it not only meets a shortfall in affordable housing – and housing in general – but also relives pressure to develop greenfield and green belt sites.
"The development will provide an attractive, high quality designed environment to live.
"The scale and character of the proposals will ensure that the scheme will contribute to and enhance the immediate and surrounding area."
Dudley Council's planning committee will decide on the proposals in the near future.
