Plans for a new housing development that will bring a landmark Black Country mansion house back into use have been submitted to council chiefs.

Developers are set to convert the Grade II-listed Corngreaves Hall in Cradley Heath into nine apartments and construct a new block of six houses adjacent to the hall within the grounds.

A planning application for the scheme has now been submitted by Corngreaves Hall Ltd which is the freehold owner of the Corngreaves Road site.

The historic house dates back to 1780 and has been empty since the 1970s.

Since then it has been plundered by metal thieves and targeted by vandals and arsonists who have caused hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage.

Permission to turn the hall into housing had already been granted by Sandwell Council in 2006, but no work ever started and in August 2010 Corngreaves Hall Ltd bought the property with the objective of restoring and developing it.

A design and access statement submitted to the council which has been prepared by Worcester-based Nick Joyce Architects LLP, says: “The condition of the hall today is very poor: externally the shell remains largely intact, but the condition of the ashlar facings is poor and the stucco window surrounds need repair.

“The roof has been stripped of its lead-work, and with large areas of missing tiles, has resulted in years of water damage.

The report adds the proposed scheme would see the existing hall converted into nine apartments – four on the ground floor, three on the first floor and two on the second floor, while the new block would contain six terrace-style two and three storey houses.