Permission given for post office demolition - 18 months after the bulldozers flattened it
Retrospective approval has been given for the demolition of a former Black Country post office – nearly 18 months after it was carried out.
Sandwell Council’s planning committee approved a ‘retrospective’ application for work already carried out to the former Hateley Heath Post Office and McColl’s convenience store in Jowetts Lane, West Bromwich.
The demolition job started in March last year and attracted the attention of enforcement officers at Sandwell Council following a complaint. The council stepped in and told UK Wide Real Estate that the extent of the work first required planning permission which put a halt to the work leaving the makeover half-finished.
The work included the replacement of a boundary wall in Lynton Avenue, the demolition of a rear external wall, a single-storey rear extension and a taller roof.
A decision had been deferred twice by councillors with a site visit finally taking place six months ago. A decision was further delayed when it was discovered on the site visit in January that the drawings in the application did not match what had been built so far. This led to a longer delay while the plans were redrawn.
Before the work began, the ‘patchwork’ building, which was a former shop and post office and two-bed flat, was made up of various materials including metal gates, corrugated iron, bricks, breeze blocks and barbed wire as well as extensions of differing heights with contrasting roofs.
