Developer asks to build new flats after demolishing Great Barr GP surgery without permission

Sandwell Council approved plans to convert the empty former doctor’s surgery in Newton Road, Great Barr, into eight new flats in 2024.

The planning application included building a number of two-storey extensions, adding balconies, and carrying out a loft conversion, to make way for the flats.

However, after work finally began in June, the building was eventually demolished without permission from the council after it was deemed unsafe by a structural engineer.

The developer was told the unauthorised demolition of the building meant the planning permission for the eight flats had been cancelled in August – which resulted in the submission of the new application.

A statement included with the latest application said: “It is important to note that every reasonable and practicable effort was made to implement the permission in accordance with the approved drawings and methodologies.

“However, due to a series of interrelated structural deficiencies and safety concerns that arose during the course of the initial works, full demolition of the existing building became necessary.

“As a result, the development is no longer capable of being implemented in accordance with the approved permission, and said permission is therefore considered null and void.”

The former doctor’s surgery has been empty since private healthcare company Summerfield Heath went into administration in 2023.

Several entries on the consumer review website Trustpilot claimed they were scammed out of hundreds of pounds when the Great Barr surgery closed suddenly and “vanished into thin air,” according to one furious patient.

The angry review said the man had paid £600 for surgery only to find the building empty when he arrived for the treatment in March last year.

Dozens of similar complaints were made by out-of-pocket patients following the surgery’s sudden closure.