Plans for apartments pushed back over rubbish concerns
Plans for a new apartment block with 26 homes have been pushed back over fears bins on the street could turn the town centre into "a tip".
Walsall Council’s planning committee deferred plans for the four-storey building in Bradford Street, Walsall, when it was discussed on Thursday.
Last month the committee deferred the application for more information to be provided about waste collections and car parking and additional information was then provided, but councillors raised concerns over the plans for Eurobins - which are 2.5 times longer and higher than normal bins - to be kept on the street.
A council officer said the current site is a "bit of a scar in the townscape" and should be developed.
But chairman of the committee, Councillor Mike Bird, said he is not convinced the bins will be brought out onto the street and taken back at the correct times for collection.
He said: "I'm not convinced that the client will bring out the bins and take them back. If they leave the bins out they should be prosecuted.
"We're trying to make the town centre look better and not look a tip, and if you approve it as it is it will.
"I'm not going to sit here and determine an application which will be a slum."
If approved at a later date, the block would contain a mixture of one and two-bedroom flats, which the applicant says would be situated in a ‘prime location’ near Walsall train station and the Saddlers shopping centre.
A design statement submitted with the plans by Eric Cole Architecture described the build as a ‘landmark development’ for Walsall.
Councillors deferred the application for consideration over the bin storage.
