Former police station in Oldbury to become flats after plans approved
The former Oldbury Police Station off Oldbury Ringway will be converted into six new flats.
A former police station will be converted into flats.
The former Oldbury Police Station off Oldbury Ringway will be converted into six new flats after a planning application was approved by Sandwell Council.
The building, in the town centre’s Stone Street, was emptied by West Midlands Police as part of a string of cost-cutting closures at the start of the decade.
The planning application by BSSO Properties said much of the site would remain untouched – including fences and the former station’s car park – and the building’s former police offices would be converted into a mix of six one-to-three-bed flats.
A statement included with the application said: “The proposal involves the internal conversion of the existing building to create six self-contained flats. The development will retain the existing building footprint, scale, massing, and roof form, ensuring that the external appearance of the building remains largely unchanged.
“The proposed conversion of the former Oldbury Police Station to six self-contained flats represents a high-quality, sustainable, and policy compliant development.
“The scheme reuses a vacant building, preserves local character, delivers compliant residential accommodation, and supports Sandwell’s housing and regeneration objectives.”
Several other former police buildings have also formed recent planning applications for new flats and houses of multiple occupation (HMO).
A planning application to convert the empty West Midlands Police training centre Windmill House in Windmill Lane, Smethwick, into a 76-bed house of multiple occupation (HMO) was rejected by Sandwell Council earlier this year.
The three-storey building, which dates back to the 1970s, had been used by the region’s police force as a training centre and accommodation until it closed last year.
Rejecting the huge HMO plans, the council said ground floor rooms would be greeted with “unacceptable” views of warehouses, boundary treatments and cycle storage” and called the plans “oppressive” and “substandard.”
Sandwell Council also plans to buy the former Smethwick police station in Piddock Road to refurbish and convert the building into around 30 one and two-bed flats.
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