Five-bed home in Walsall set to become town's latest shared housing

Permission was granted for the development at 79 Lichfield Street, Walsall, located in the town's Arboretum Conservation Area, earlier this month.

Once works are complete, the ground floor will host two bedrooms with en-suites, a large kitchen and one studio flat. On the first floor there will be six en-suite bedrooms. All changes to the property will be internal except from an extension to the rear and a new patio door.

The rear garden will be accessible to all occupants and would provide amenity areas, stands for eight bicycles and space for bin storage. The property on Lichfield Street neighbours the former Hatherton Arms, which closed as a pub around a decade ago.

There are already 12 other HMOs within the WS4 postcode.

While West Midlands Police did not object to the application, it stated that HMOs traditionally increase the demand on local resources such as police, council and social services. It also said that sharing kitchen and amenity areas by more than five people particularly increases the risk of conflict within premises.

The property, right next to the Arboretum, sits inside the Arboretum Conservation Area. The zone was first designated in 1985. It covers 31.32 hectares including the park and nearby roads and buildings.

The park itself is Grade II listed, as well as nearby 1 and 2 Victoria Terrace and Uplands House. There are five Locally Listed properties on Lichfield Street.

The building also falls into the Cannock Chase Special Areas of Conservation, meaning the applicant, Gursharan Singh, had to pay £344 to mitigate any impact the development would have on the beauty spot.