HMO plan for disused Walsall care home and drug farm is rejected

Residents in Slaney Road, Pleck, said they have endured racist and verbal abuse from occupants staying in existing facilities in the area and they had “had enough”.

Applicant Ayyaz Ahmed had hoped to create the 37-bedroom house of multiple occupation to be run by Midshire Supported Housing Trust for vulnerable people, including the homeless.

But, at a meeting on Thursday members of Walsall Council’s planning committee refused permission for reasons including the fear of crime.

The care home closed around three years ago and has been empty since.

But it hit the headlines when it was raided by police who discovered a £6.5 million cannabis farm – with 6,000 plants across 40 rooms – in May last year.

Resident Leyoh Goodall told the committee it was only discovered because it was using up so much power, it had drained the electricity supply for the entire street.

She added that people were scared of the prospect of the building being converted into a HMO.

“We already have existing HMOs on the street and the residents in those HMOs are of the same profiles proposed for this particular site," she said.

“We’ve had some good residents, but some terrible ones who quite literally terrorised the street with racial abuse.

“We’ve had lots of anti-social behaviour. We have many elderly neighbours and families on the street and they are very, very nervous and very, very scared.

“We’ve received verbal abuse from these residents and it’s very unsafe. I’ve got two children who I’m not very happy about going out playing on the street when we’ve got the kind of residents being suggested."

She added: "We’re doing our fair share for HMOs. We do not need another.

“We’ve got really diverse and respectful neighbours. Lots of different ethnicities, races and religions and we all look after each other.

“The reason we’re all here in force is because we talk very regularly, make sure residents are doing well.

“We’ve got different family groups, and the transient nature of the HMO does not contribute to the sense of community at all.

“It’s near impossible to park, and that’s if you’re a visitor. Imagine what it’s like for the emergency services.”

Councillor Naheed Gultasib, who lives in and represents Pleck, said: “We all live in the HMO capital of Walsall and suffer with having to live with high levels of deprivation, high levels of anti-social behaviour and crime and the associated costs that follow, such as car and home insurance.

“We’re hard workers, we do our bit for the community. We love our neighbours but we’re being penalised continuously by having things imposed on us that will affect the standards of our lives. As residents of Pleck, we’ve had enough.”

Committee member and Walsall Labour group leader Aftab Nawaz said: “This isn’t a HMO we’re looking at. This is a super HMO.

“Pleck has got too many HMOs already, this would significantly impact on everyone’s lives.

“And this is at the end of the road which leads to the park. If families are scared to take their children past there, they would have to go all the way around to use it.

“We can’t accept our elderly residents being scared of what happens in that building. There is a fear of crime.”

In the application, Mr Ahmed said residents would be people who were homeless or suffered mental health issues such as anxiety.

He said they would adhere to a code of conduct, while CCTV would be installed to guard against crime as well as working with police and neighbourhood watch teams. He also said it would be highly unlikely the residents would own cars.