Plans to demolish factory to make way for 125 flats near West Bromwich High Street approved
A plan to demolish a factory near a high street which has stood empty for seven years to make way for 125 new apartments has been approved.
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The former Tentec site in West Bromwich will be demolished and replaced with 125 new apartments after a planning application was backed by Sandwell Council.
Most of the site of Guns Lane behind West Bromwich High Street has been empty since the engineering firm moved out of the town to a new home at the i54 business park on the border of Wolverhampton in 2017.
The planning application for the apartments was first put forward nearly two years ago but amended six times – including being reduced in size and height – before being approved by planners at Sandwell Council.
The site would be demolished and replaced with eight new apartment blocks. A total of 60 parking spaces are also included.
Several changes were requested by Sandwell Council before its planners were satisfied with the application.
The application had originally outlined plans for more than 140 flats in several buildings, with some reaching five storeys – which the council said would be “overbearing.”
The council’s planners also said the proposed layout was “cramped and overcrowded” and criticised it for looking “shoehorned.”
A statement included with the application said: “In light of the recent influx of working professionals moving into the local area and across West Bromwich, the housing sector is under increasing pressure to provide enough housing stock in order to cope with the demand.
“Many professionals see the changing face of living environments as one way in which they can set themselves apart from the competition. The existing is a majority vacant industrial site (part let), the proposal for the demolition of the site will allow the site to be used for a greatly increased number of liveable residential units in the local area.
“The proposal includes parking spaces and cycle spaces on the ground floor.
“Users of the new apartment block which will be mainly comprised of single-working professionals and new first-time buyers that will be working in the city centre will have more access to cycling and local bus routes that will encourage a more environmental mode of travelling."
