Plan for flats near Willenhall abandoned three years after first submitted

The move to build 23 new flats on an old car park on the corner of Moseley Road and Dilloways Lane, on the border of Bilston and Willenhall was submitted to Wolverhampton Council in March 2021.

But a request by the authority’s planners for more information was snubbed which meant a decision could not be made.

A plan to convert two homes in Moseley Road into four apartments and build two new apartment blocks with 19 one-and-two-bed flats on adjoining land was first submitted to Wolverhampton’s planners in 2021.

The new two-and-three-storey apartment blocks would have been built on a former car park, now home to a hand car wash, to the rear of the Shri Maha Kali Bhameshwari Mandir temple and Wok and Roll takeaway.

Most of the land was home to the Long Acres pub before it closed in 2010 and was then converted into the Hindu temple.

A letter outlining the decision said the council’s planners had requested more information from the developer Preston-based ProImage Ltd before making a decision but never received it. Three and a half years on, the council said it has as now ‘disposed’ of the application. A new application would now have to be submitted if the work was ever to go ahead.

A statement included with the application in 2021 said the land was vacant, underused and “contributed little” to the area.

“The site lies within the defined built-up area of Willenhall and comprises a parcel of previously developed land currently laid to hardstanding and used partly as a hand car wash,” it said.

“The remainder of the land is otherwise vacant and underused. It contributes little to the character and appearance of the surrounding area.”