Plans for 140 homes in Sandwell backed
A proposal to build more than 140 homes on the site of a metal recycling yard have taken another step following approval by planners this month.
Sandwell Council has given the green light for the housing development on the former Atlas Metals site in Cranford Street.
Earlier plans for 182 homes at the site were approved by the same council in two years ago. But following a down-scale of the plans, a new application for 142 homes was submitted by Solihull-based developers Mar City Developments.
This month it was approved by the council after officers said the changes would not 'harm' the appearance and quality of the development. Concerns was raised by the highways department over the road layout, but following discussions, these were addressed before the proposal was given the nod.
The 41,000 sq ft site will have 28 four-bedroom houses, 64 three-bedroom house, 34 two-bedroom houses and 16 two-bed flats under the scheme.
The site was earmarked for housing under the Smethwick Area Action Plan 2008.
The development will be built in the shadow of the £380 million Midland Metropolitan Hospital, proposed by Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals Trust for land off Grove Lane.
It is expected to attract hundreds of health workers to the area, with the housing development expected to cater for many of them.
The hospital will replace Sandwell Hospital in West Bromwich and City Hospital in Winson Green.
In January the NHS's Board of the National Trust Development Authority gave its approval to the business case for the hospital.
A final decision will be made by the treasury in the coming months.
The hospital is due to take up 16 acres but a further 31 acres of land between Grove Lane, Cranford Street, Heath Street and Dugdale Street is to be transformed and filled with other employment opportunities and housing schemes.
In the initial planning application for the homes at the former Atlas Metals site, documents supporting it said: "Although the site is predominantly industrial at the present time, this is expected to change dramatically in the next decade.
"The main catalyst for the change is the proposal by Sandwell and Birmingham NHS Trust to build a new acute super hospital."
