50 homes to replace industrial estate

A plan to replace a Bilston industrial estate with more than 50 new homes has been approved.

City of Wolverhampton Council has approved plans by Morro Partnerships to knock down several dilapidated units in Hatton Street and Greenway Road off Salop Street in Bilston and replace them with 54 ‘affordable’ houses.

The plans were put forward more than two years ago and have gone through several revisions.

Most of the units, which are home to a secondhand car dealership, repair shop, garages and factories, would all be demolished and replaced with a mix of two and three-bed homes.

Approving the work, the council’s planners said: “Overall, the proposal would represent a significant improvement to the appearance and character of the site, replacing an unattractive industrial area with a high-quality residential development.

“The scheme would make efficient use of a housing allocation, provide affordable housing, support employment during the construction phase, and enhance the visual amenity of the area.

“The existing lawful industrial use of the site benefits from unrestricted operating hours and has the potential to generate activity and disturbance on a 24-hour basis. The replacement of this use with residential development would result in a less disruptive form of development.

“The site is affected by historic industrial activity, including former coal mining operations, a former foundry, and other industrial land uses. Appropriate investigations shall be undertaken, and remediation works are proposed to ensure the site is safe and suitable for residential occupation.”

The planning application said extra homes – which also included a bigger share of two-bed homes – had been included following talks with the council.

The land has long been earmarked as a site for new housing and has appeared in council blueprints for the last two decades.

The site is also included in the council’s ‘local plan’ which sets out where new homes will be built across Bilston and Wolverhampton up to 2042.

Hatton Street has also been a hotspot for fly-tipping in recent years with the council even resorting to offering £100 gift vouchers for information on perpetrators who were believed to have dumped between 30 and 40 tonnes of rubbish in the secluded street.

A statement included with the application said building homes would make efficient use of an “underutilised” commercial site during a time of “pressing need for the city.”

By Christian Barnett | Local Democracy Reporting Service