Express & Star

Care home on pub site set for go-ahead

A major project to build a care home on the site of a Bearwood pub, creating new jobs, is poised to be given the go-ahead. Councillors will make the final decision on the scheme, which will see the Thimblemill pub raised to the ground.

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An 86-resident care home would be built on the site at the junction of Thimblemill Road and Norman Road. The four-wing, three-storey development would create 70 full-time equivalent jobs. Brierley Groom architects, acting on behalf of Thimblemill Estates, has submitted an application to Sandwell Council to demolish the pub. This has now been recommended for approval.

Councillors are due to visit the site ahead of next week's meeting.

There have been some objections to the loss of the pub, including from the Twentieth Century Society, which has called for the building, which dates back to 1928, to be retained.

But English Heritage said it did not meet the necessary criteria to be nationally listed.

The developer has said they have designed the new building to incorporate some Tudor-style elements in keeping with some of the features of the existing pub.

A report from Brierley Groom explains that they have designed the building to be sympathetic with the surrounding area.

Councillor Ian Jones, Sandwell Council's cabinet member for jobs and economy, has welcomed the prospect of new jobs but said he regretted the resulting loss of a community pub.

Speaking when the scheme was announced, he said: "It would have been good for a community pub to be brought back.

"But if that is not going to be the case, the best option is to develop the site for a use that would benefit the community and he local area."

Since the pub closed two years, it has attracted vandalism, and concerns have been raised that it could have been the easy target for an arson attack.

A report by the planning officer Alison Bishop said: "It is agreed that the council would have preferred to see the locally listed building retained, nevertheless it is recognised that there has been no interest in the site for re-use either as a public house or any other use.

"Despite efforts to secure the building numerous occurrences of vandalism has taken place."

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