Village plan for brick and tile plant

A controversial brick and tile making factory could soon be built in a South Staffordshire village, the Express & Star can reveal today.

Black Country Reclamation has applied for renewed planning permission for the development on land in Hobnock Road, Essington, which caused uproar when it was first mooted two decades ago. The firm was given the go-ahead for the factory in 1988 and again in 1998 but work never started and planning permission eventually expired.

Villagers complained it would mean an increase in traffic and noise and the loss of mature trees, and now it is feared road safety will be a major issue.

District and parish councillor David Clifft, who sits on the planning committee at South Staffordshire Council, said today: "The site had become an eyesore with people dumping rubbish.

"Work to tidy it up started at the beginning of 2007 and in October, a new vehicle access was installed. The applicant is now asking for a certificate of lawfulness to erect the factory but a lot of things have changed since planning permission was first granted back in 1988.

"One of my main concerns is the increased volume of traffic. The junction of Bursnips Road and Hobnock Road has become an accident hotspot."

Essington Parish Council is holding an exhibition and public meeting with residents to discuss the matter at a date to be announced.

Councillor Clifft added: "Residents are already outraged with plans by South Staffordshire Housing Association and Lockett Property Holdings to build a £7million sheltered housing development."

A planning application for the 70 one and two-bedroom flats off Wolverhampton Road, replacing the Park House sheltered housing scheme for the elderly, is expected next month.

Earlier this month proposals which could have seen thousands of tons of rubbish sorted in the middle of Broad Lane were withdrawn, and last November, plans for a weather-testing mast which could have led to a 119-metre wind turbine dominating the skyline were thrown out.