Arsonists strike again at former home of Darlaston Town Football Club

City Ground – the former home of Darlaston Town Football Club, which has not been occupied since the club relocated to Bentley a decade ago, has become a magnet for anti-social behaviour.

Residents led a campaign for a new purpose to be found for the ground, off the junction of Slater Street and Waverley Road, which has become rundown and the spectator stand the subject of a number of fires and vandalism.

Fire crews were called to a blaze at the site on February 10, which involved a fire in a steel storage container, believed to have been started deliberately.

And firefighters returned to the site on Sunday evening after arsonists set another blaze inside a derelict building.

A West Midlands Fire Service spokesman said: "Just after 7.50pm on Sunday, crews in Walsall and Willenhall were alerted to a fire in a derelict building on the old Darlaston Football Club site off Slater Street.

"Two fire engines attended the incident, the first arriving within four minutes of being mobilised.

"Crews arrived to find a small fire in a room measuring two metres by two metres. The fire was extinguished by 8.35pm.

"We revisited the site shortly after 11.55pm to check for hotspots with a thermal imaging camera. None were found and we left shortly after.

"The fire is being treated as deliberate."

Last year, plans emerged to transform the site into a woodland oasis and Darlaston South Councillor Paul Bott has called for action to be taken as soon as possible.

Walsall Council said plans for the site are subject to further investigations, but the authority was aware of the issues raised and added that "the development of the site is still very much on the table".

Darlaston Town (1874) played at the ground from the late 1890s.

When it moved Walsall Council took over ownership of City Ground and boarded up the gate.

The land was donated to Darlaston by the Pitcher family.