Plans for 24-hour gym in Black Country warehouse allowed after appeal
The government’s planning inspectorate overturned the decision after the fitness firm lodged an appeal.
A plan to open a 24-hour gym in a former factory will now be allowed to go ahead after a government inspector overruled a council.
The move by D1 Gyms to open in part of the former Trident Steelworks in Albion Road, West Bromwich, was rejected by Sandwell Council last year because it ‘clashed’ with its ambition to use the land for employment.
The government’s planning inspectorate overturned the decision after the fitness firm lodged an appeal.
The inspector Chris Couper said the gym would bring numerous health benefits to the local area and could be incorporated into any wider future housing or employment plans by the council as well as bring jobs.
The report outlining the decision said: “As well as catering to the needs of athletes travelling from further afield, I have no cogent reason to doubt that the gym could provide a facility for the local community, which would be within easy walking or cycling distance of existing and proposed housing, and which would include fitness activities and exercise classes to help improve their general health and well-being.
“This is a significant benefit given that Sandwell scores below the national average on a number of health, activity and obesity indices.”
The 19-acre site in West Bromwich was earmarked for more than 740 homes in Sandwell Council’s plans first adopted in 2012 but the site remains untouched by developers. The former warehouse, which would house the new gym, has been empty since 2023.
The site is earmarked as employment land in the emerging Sandwell ‘local plan’ – a blueprint setting out where homes and other developments would be preferred to be built in the borough up to 2041 – but the heavily-delayed plan is still being reviewed and yet to be formally published.
A statement included with the application said: “The proposal seeks to repurpose the warehouse into a gymnasium, providing a range of fitness facilities including open-plan exercise areas, changing rooms, and ancillary spaces such as a reception.
“The existing building is ideally suited and directly adaptable for this purpose with no works to its structure required.”
You can find out more about planning applications and planned roadworks where you live by visiting publicnoticeportal.uk/express-and-star
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