Skip firm told make way for Smethwick factory revamp
The path has been cleared for the £10 million transformation of a historic former glass works factory to go-ahead after a skip hire firm was refused permission to continue trading from the site.
Sandwell Council rejected the latest application from No 1 Skip Hire Limited to extend its operation for another 11 years at the site of the Chance Glass Works in Smethwick.
The Chance Glass Works Heritage Trust had said its masterplan for shops and homes at the site could not go ahead whilst the site was being used by a skip hire company.
However the decision does mean up to 18 jobs at the firm are at risk following the result, which will need to find new premises to operate from.
The trust, which opposed the application, said it did not want to cause job losses and is willing to help the skip hire firm find a solution. "We are delighted that this represents the opportunity to move forward in our plans," said Graham Fisher, chairman of Chance Glass Works Heritage Trust.
"But we are still in talks to resolve any outstanding difficulties with the skip hire and loss of jobs. It was not our intention to see the loss of jobs but there are more suitable places for a skip hire to operate, but there is only one chance glassworks.
"We have made it very clear from the outset we do not want to see people put out of business and the loss of jobs.
"We want to work with parties involved to come some satisfaction."
The application had been opposed by 140 individual objections, from as far as Canada and South Africa, and a petition with 325 signatures.
The skip hire business was not available for comment.
It was granted permission to run a skip hire company in 2011 for five years.
There are several parties that lease parts of the Glass Works but the trust would aim to develop the whole site under one package with the backing of owners.
The skip hire firm had another application to renew its tenure rejected in 2015, with council officers noting that 'the proposal causes harm to the setting of a number of listed structures and the conservation area and it is an inappropriate use for a Scheduled Ancient Monument, causing substantial harm to heritage assets.'
The business was a household name in its heyday – with around 90 per cent of all reflective glass used for lighthouses around the world being produced by the firm.
The main feature of the site is the prominent 19th century seven-storey building, although other buildings still remain.
The trust and skip hire company have been are locked in a row over the site, with planning agents acting on behalf of the company insisting they are going nowhere, regardless of what decision was going to be made from the meeting.
They say they have 92 years left to run on its lease and so cannot be forced to move. However they admitted they would have to stop trading if the application to extend the skip hire's operation as a business was rejected.
One of the arguments for the skip hire to continue operating was that it wasn't applying to alter, extend or change the use of existing listed buildings.
The derelict site of the Chance Glass Works is situated within the Smethwick, Galton Valley Conservation area, which is a narrow corridor spanning several miles through Sandwell and Birmingham.
Graham Fisher, speaking in May, described the size of the trust's planned revamp. He said: "This is a major regeneration scheme, aimed at bringing derelict land back into use with the potential to unlock more than 20,000 sq m of development space for business, accommodation and leisure.
"We plan to include more than 180 business units offering the potential to create well in excess of 100 jobs." The trust wants the planned lighthouse to form the centepiece of the plans and hope it could be light. Chance Brothers Glassworks was established nearly two hundreds years ago, when Robert Lucas Chance purchased the works of the British Crown Glass Company on the borders of Smethwick.
