Skip hire firm reveals job loss fears if forced to leave Smethwick glassworks site
A skip hire firm campaigners say is standing in the way of a multi-million pound transformation of a former glassworks could be forced to stop trading meaning the loss of 18 jobs.
Sandwell councillors are set to make a decision tonight on an application from No 1 Skip Hire to be allowed to keep trading at the Chance Glassworks site in Spon Lane, Smethwick. Committee members have been advised by planning officers from Sandwell Council to throw it out, a decision which would have dire consequences for the company and could mean the loss of 18 jobs.
However, it would come as a boost for the Chance Glass Works Heritage Trust, which wants the skip hire firm off the site so that they can regenerate it. Homes, offices and shops would all arrive over the next decade under a £10 million vision.
The two parties are locked in an acrimonious row over the site, with planning agents acting on behalf of the company insisting they are going nowhere, regardless of the decision.
They say they have 92 years left to run on a lease at the site so cannot be forced to move, although they have admitted they would have to stop trading and cut jobs if the decision goes against them.
Roger Page, from planning agents Page Sandford Partners, said the firm would be willing to leave the site but only if they are given sufficient time to find a suitable new location while continuing to operate from Spon Lane.
He also said no consideration should be given to any future plans for the site, rather their application should be judged on its own merits.
Mr Page said: "We are extremely concerned that the application has been recommended for refusal by Sandwell planners.
"We have done all we can to negotiate with Sandwell Council for a compromise solution to suit all parties but regret it has been to no avail.
"Our client owns a 99-year lease on the site with 92 years unexpired and therefore there can be no development without the involvement of our client.
"Our client has no wish to prevent this important heritage site from being developed as it should. However, the refusal of the temporary application would mean our client having to close their business and with it the loss of 18 full-time jobs at a time when Sandwell has the ninth highest unemployment record in the UK."
