Fire-damaged Smethwick shop will be replaced alongside new flats
A former shop destroyed by fire will be replaced with new flats.
Fresh plans approved by Sandwell Council will see the fire-damaged former Ex-Catalogue Direct shop in Bearwood Road replaced with a new ground-floor shop and nine flats.
The shop was badly damaged by fire in May.
The plans, submitted in September, came a year after a move to convert the shop into a shisha lounge and cocktail bar was rejected by Sandwell Council.
The flats plan does not include any parking spaces with the developer saying cars could be accommodated on surrounding roads.
At least 12 parking spaces would be required under the council’s usual highways rules for the flats and a shop but the plans were nevertheless approved.
The application by Manchester-based Birchpark Investments Ltd said the building had been badly damaged by the fire and had now been deemed structurally unsafe.
A new three-storey building would replace the former shop once demolished with a ground floor unit and nine flats above.
More than 70 firefighters tackled the early hours blaze on May 16 this year which destroyed most of the building and left the former shop roofless.
West Midlands Fire Service said crews later found evidence of a cannabis farm at the building on the corner of Bearwood Road and Anderson Road in Bearwood.
A statement included with the latest application said: “The proposals will revitalise the currently vacant site and provide new, high quality, residential accommodation in a sustainable location as well as creating an opportunity for new businesses to thrive within Bearwood and encourage future regeneration of the local area.”
Rejecting the application in 2024, Sandwell Council’s planners said the new cocktail bar and restaurant would be “overintensive and inappropriate” and plans to include an enclosed shisha lounge would also be illegal and contravene the indoor smoking ban.
Estimates showed the new venue would need at least 55 parking spaces to accommodate customers and the council was concerned it would add to problems in already cramped surrounding streets.
Planners also feared the new venue would bring extra noise and disturbance for neighbours in Anderson Road.
