New lease of life planned for disused car park blighted by fly-tipping – find out what's planned

Walsall Council planning officers have granted permission for Stourbridge-based Harc Design Bureau to erect a block of six one-bedroom flats on the land adjacent to Victor Street in Caldmore.

In the application, they said the development would bring an end to misery for residents who have suffered from the blight of rubbish being dumped there and the space being an eyesore for them to endure.

The land was previously used as a car park but the applicants said they believed it hadn’t been used as such for some time.

Harc Design Bureau said: “The application site is irregular shaped, with a narrow existing highway frontage which enabled access to the previous use of the site as a small, but clearly unpopular/unused car park.

“It is unclear when the use of the site as a car park ceased, but aerial photography suggests that this occurred some years ago.

“The site is essentially feature less, with no physical features of note and no trees on it.

“The site is currently vacant and is now suffering from fly tipping so is extremely unsightly and is not contributing aesthetically to the local area.

“As such the residential development of the site will remove an eye sore and source of noise and nuisance to its neighbours which should be actively welcomed by local residents.

“This is a highly sustainable location being located within easy walking distance of a wide range of local services, facilities, local shops and amenities, as well as a choice of public transport services.

“The proposed development proposes a small in-fill development within this established predominantly residential area, of an overall scale and nature which is appropriate in this location.

“Whilst this is not an allocated site for housing, it clearly qualifies as a small “windfall” site which can make a modest contribution towards delivering much needed new housing within the borough.

“The council has an identified need to deliver a significant number of additional new homes over and above those sites already allocated; granted planning permission; or, under construction, but is currently falling short in terms of its housing land supply.

“The development respects and complements its surroundings, with a design and layout which will sit comfortably within the street scene and which would have no adverse or detrimental impact upon existing neighbouring properties.”