New council homes being built on West Bromwich sites
Plans to build five new council houses on two sites in West Bromwich have been backed.
Sandwell Council cabinet members approved plans for a bungalow and two four-bedroom houses in Bull Lane along with another two new bungalows on Albion Road.
The proposal is part of the authority’s three year plan to invest £70 million in building 650 new council homes across the borough.
The Albion Road development will replace a block of three one-bedroom bungalows – one of which is suffering from subsidence – and will be repositioned to avoid poor ground conditions.
Councillor Joanne Hadley, cabinet member for homes, recommended the proposal and said the houses would add to the council’s stock of affordable housing.
She added the construction work would add the council’s policy of supporting local business and jobs.
She said: “Linking in to the work of ‘Think Local, Think Sandwell’ approaches we will offer significant employment and training opportunities as well as additional benefit to the local economy including local supply chains and the use of local labour."
She explained the £30,000 cost of demolishing the existing homes on Albion Road was unavoidable due to the subsidence.
“There was no alternative, we could not save the bungalows but we did explore that,” she added.
The development will now go the borough’s August planning committee for approval and and if passed, construction is expected to begin early next year and be completed by August 2020.