Homes plan for 'overgrown' former Walsall tennis club site
More than a dozen new homes could be built on an ‘overgrown’ former tennis club site in Walsall.
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Walsall Housing Group (whg) has put forward a proposal for the old Walsall Tennis Club facility on Birmingham Road, which would see 14 properties built with access from Cricket Close if planning permission is agreed.
This latest application represents phase two of a wider scheme by whg to build houses in the area, having previously secured permission to build 29 homes on the neighbouring former allotments land.
Representatives for whg said this proposal would help meet a need for family homes in the area as well as bring a redundant, ‘overgrown’ site back into use.
Walsall Tennis Club was formed in 1912 but left its Birmingham Road home of more than 100 years when whg took over the site in 2018.
It has operated from the tennis courts at Queen Mary’s Grammar School since 2022 and a planning application for new floodlights to be installed at the venue and make it a permanent home was submitted earlier this year.
Sharon Kenny, whg Director of Development & Regeneration, said: “There is a real need for high quality family homes in the area.
“This new development will not only address that need by providing a range of three, four and five bedroom homes, but also transform an overgrown and unused site into an attractive new neighbourhood.
“We have worked closely with local stakeholders and look forward to bringing stage two of the development to fruition.”
Planning permission for phase one was granted by the Government’s planning inspectorate following an appeal made against the council by whg on the grounds it had failed to make a decision on the application in time.
The application drew strong opposition from residents who raised concerns about the access to the homes being created in the cul-de-sac Cricket Close.
They argued an entrance off Broadway would be safer and cause less congestion but road safety officers said they would not support this because it would exacerbate existing problems on the busy route, adding Cricket Close had the capacity to take the extra traffic.
