Former housing office to be converted into four-bedroom home
A long-standing former housing office on a Wolverhampton estate is to be converted into a four-bedroom house, councillors have agreed.
At a meeting of the council’s cabinet resources panel last night (Wednesday July, 27) members welcomed the return of the property in Burton Road, Heath Town, to the city’s housing register.
Services including rent collection and maintenance for tenants of the the redundant Springfield Horseshoe Housing Management Co-operative (HMC) will now be transferred to a central office, the panel heard.
Councillor Bhupinder Gakhal (Lab. Wednesfield South) , cabinet member for city assets and housing, said: “The recommendations are for the change of use from a housing office to a residential home.
“Just to give a bit of background on this – in October 1995 a residential home at 27 Burton Road was converted from a two-bedroom terraced house to a housing office for use by Springfield Horseshoe Housing Management Co-operative (HMC) and tenants.
“The property was already in the housing revenue account and was converted with the running costs funded by the Tenant Management Organisation (TMO).
“In September 2017 the property was extended further to provide additional ground floor space for a committee meeting room.
“Springfield Horseshoe managed 252 properties on the council’s behalf. In July 2019 approval was given to wind up the HMC and transfer the management functions to Wolverhampton Homes,” he added.
“The property is now no longer in use as an office. It has been established through consultation that the property would be more useful as a four-bedroom house with a ground floor bedroom and a wet room which allows for space and access for wheelchair users.
“Relevant documents outline two options for the property to be used as either a four or five-bedroom house, and it was determined that a four-bedroom parlour house will allow the property to be available to a higher number of eligible applicants on the housing register.
“As everyone knows, we’ve got a large waiting list for three and four-bedroom houses and this property is ideal to be put back into our housing stock,” said Cllr Gakhal.
Council leader Cllr Ian Brookfield (Lab. Bushbury South and Low Hill) added: “I was there at the start of the TMO in Burton Road and they did a fantastic job for the tenants for decades. It was a fantastic little area.
“John Pemberton, who is sadly no longer with us, ran it with some other colleagues and it was really great. It unfortunately lost its way over the last couple of years – probably because John passed away.
“So it’s really good that the property is going to become a four-bedroom house. We need a lot of four and five-bedroom houses in the city now and in the future, so I’m more than pleased that it’s coming back onto the housing register,” he added.
The property conversion work will cost £110,000 which will be funded through the social housing capital budget.
