Furious residents demand action on 'abused' historic walkway plagued by drug paraphernalia

Councillor Simran Cheema and business owners on Market Place said a parcel of private land on Bell Alley has become such a blight there are concerns historic buildings dating back hundreds of years could be ruined.

Among the issues in the alley, used by hundreds daily, are used needles often being dumped, people using it as a toilet, fly-tipping, collapsing walls and the presence of a huge amount of Japanese knotweed – potentially damaging to nearby buildings.

Walsall Council served a notice on the owner which has not been complied with and a spokesperson said the authority is considering its options.

But Wendy Evans, co-owner of the 17th century former pub The Bell, and Councillor Cheema said action needed to be taken to resolve the problems once and for all.

Councillor Cheema said: “I and many others use this alley to enter the town – it’s such a mess.

“There is Japanese knotweed and spreads quite a lot and needs to be treated properly. There is drug paraphernalia, fly-tipping and litter is always dumped here.

“For somewhere that is a gateway into the town which loads of people use to get to the Market Place and have to see this every time is awful. It’s not a good look for the town.

“I contacted the council earlier this year and asked what could we do. I managed to get them to serve a notice on the owner for remediation to be carried out.

“There was a compliance date but when I contacted them that had passed.

“They re-served the notice and a new compliance date given and that one had expired and nothing had still been done.

“I was told they were working with the owner instead of taking further action. I’ve had no response since July.”

Wendy Evans is one of three owners who took over The Bell – which dates back to 1659 – 13 years ago with the aim of restoring it to turn it into a small museum with coffee shop and micro-brewery.

She said: “We have four walkways to Market Place and they should be preserved but instead they are abused.

“We have drug sellers, people use it as a toilet and things are dumped here and we’ve had homeless people living amongst the bushes.

“We are concerned about the Japanese knotweed spreading. Our cellar is 400 years old and it is fatal if it gets into the brickwork.”

A Walsall Council spokesperson said: “The owner has failed to resolve the issues on this site following the council’s issued Section 215 notice requiring the land to be tidied up.

“No appeal has been lodged in relation to the served notice within the required period and the council is considering its options in this case which include the preparation of legal papers with a potential view to prosecution.”