105 homes to be built on Wednesbury playing fields

Sandwell Council has approved an application by major housing developer Persimmon to build 105 homes on fields off Friar Park Road in Wednesbury.

Persimmon already had permission to build 84 homes on the land, after plans were given the green light by Sandwell Council in 2020, but the developer returned with a bigger application 12 months ago.

The plans were revised several times after being submitted in October last year before an agreement over the estate’s section 106 agreement, a legal document between the developer and a council with stipulations that can include money for roads, schools, healthcare and town centre improvements, or in this case, new playing fields, was signed last week.

Two new sports pitches, as well as changing rooms and similar facilities for local clubs, would be installed at the Phoenix Collegiate in West Bromwich as part of the Friar Park work.

An agreement between the council and Persimmon states the facilities must be offered at an “affordable” rate and outside of school hours.

As much as £300,000, as agreed four years ago, would also be made available to improve facilities at the Hydes Road playing fields in Wednesbury.

The application also shows that no ‘affordable’ housing would be built, with Sandwell Council usually requiring at least 25 per cent of the homes to be classed as ‘affordable’ before applications are accepted. Persimmon said it was “not viable” to build affordable housing as part of the estate.

Originally, the application included no ‘affordable’ housing despite Sandwell Council usually requiring at least 25 per cent of the homes to be classed as such before applications were accepted.

Just fifteen of the new homes, or 14 per cent, would be affordable, according to the now-approved application.

The application had been criticised by government body Sport England over potential ‘broken promises’ to build replacement playing fields and improve existing facilities in its 2020 application.

When the plans were submitted last year, Sport England, the government body responsible for protecting playing fields, came out against the plan over concerns that £300,000 promised to improve facilities elsewhere in Sandwell might be scrapped under the new move.

As part of the deal to build 84 homes on the playing fields, Persimmon agreed to stump up £300,000 to put towards improving the facilities at the Hydes Road playing fields, just over a mile away, which Sandwell Council had singled out as a “key priority site” for sports.

The money was also supposed to make sure the pitches at the Phoenix Collegiate site in Clarkes Lane in West Bromwich were brought up to a ‘good’ standard for community use.

The Football Foundation, which channels government, FA and Premier League money into grassroots football, said the promised pitches had been provided but were branded “poor quality” after an inspection.

When the bigger housing plan was revealed, Sport England said it was worried that Persimmon was claiming there might be “viability issues” with the move and the £300,000 it promised for new playing fields could be spent elsewhere.

Sports England said it was unwilling to stop objecting to the homes plan unless Persimmon agreed to spend at least £300,000 as stipulated in the previous deal.

Sandwell Council’s own strategy for sports pitches admits a shortage in facilities across the district, with many sites “overused”, and emphasises the importance of “protecting and improving” existing pitches.

Persimmon said better pitches had already been built at the Phoenix Collegiate site in West Bromwich – which was formed in 2010 after the merging of Menzies High School and Manor High School in Friar Park Road.

The school had operated from both sites before Manor High School closed in 2012 because of asbestos.

The site of the former Friar Park Road school has since been transformed into the High Point Academy which opened in 2021.

Sports England said it did not agree with Persimmon that the fields off Friar Park Road were “surplus to requirements” and did not meet any of its criteria to make an exception and support housebuilding on playing fields.

Persimmon argued the playing fields have not been used since the school closed in 2012 and were “abandoned” but it is believed the pitches were managed by the adjacent Pulse Soccer Centre, now run by Leisure United, with bookings available up until 2020 at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 105-home plan is just one of several applications currently in the works in Wednesbury.

The huge new £20m Friar Park ‘urban village’, which is set to be built in the next several years, includes up to 630 new homes and improvements to the nearby Millennium Community Centre.

Up to 34 two-and-three-bed homes are set to be built next to drinks firm and Irn Bru maker AG Barr’s site in Friar Park Road and the former Friar Park Inn in Crankhall Lane could also be demolished and replaced with 14 new flats and a shop.