Plans for former police station approved

Major plans to demolish a former police station and build new apartments in Ladywood have been given the green light.

The redevelopment of the brownfield site at Ladywood Road will provide 137 apartments across two four-storey blocks, as well as parking and landscaping.

The two buildings which will be bulldozed as part of the scheme are the former Ladywood Police Station and nearby former social club.

The fact 47 of the apartments will be affordable, social rented homes was praised by Cllr Martin Brooks, chair of the planning committee, at a recent meeting.

“In principle, this is an excellent application,” he said. “It develops a brownfield site that’s been derelict  for some time and provides fairly substantial affordable housing.

“While our aim as a committee has been 35 per cent affordable […] I don’t think we’ve ever seen an application with 35 per cent – it’s usually more around the 10 per cent mark actually.

“In some ways, this is really good.”

But he went on to argue that it was “disappointing” that the scheme will not provide any three-bedroom family dwellings.

“All the evidence that we’ve got […] indicate the need for family housing,” he said.

“I do understand that officers […] have gone to a lot of to-ing and fro-ing with developers in terms of trying to get the best deal in terms of affordable housing and all the rest, so I wouldn’t oppose it.

“But I’d hope that as a committee we give some strong indications, not just to our officers but to developers, that our expectations are much stronger in terms of affordable family housing on some of these sites.”

A council officer’s report acknowledged that the Ladywood ward suffers “particularly acute shortages” of larger family accommodation.

It continued however that over half of the proposed homes would be two-bedroom units, with the officer saying they would be capable of “meeting the needs of a range of household types”.

They added: “The applicant advised that the introduction of larger units would result in significant design, layout and viability constraints.”

The report also previously accepted that both of the buildings set to be demolished have “limited historic and communal interest”.

But it continued: “The former social club building is in a poor state of repair, particularly following the damage caused by a fire in March 2026.

“The building is also irregular in form, […] limiting its ability to accommodate modern residential accommodation.”

The council officer also said the former police station was designed with a highly-specific purpose in mind, which means the layout ‘constraints opportunities for efficient residential conversion’.

The applicant behind the plans therefore decided demolishing the existing buildings and replacing them with new ones was the “most appropriate” approach.

“Officers are satisfied that the retention and reuse of the existing buildings has been appropriately explored,” the council officer wrote.

“Both buildings have been vacant for a number of years and were not designed for residential occupation.”

With the report concluding that the proposals would bring economic, environmental and biodiversity benefits, the scheme was unanimously approved at the recent planning meeting.

By Alexander Brock | Local Democracy Reporting Service