Trampoline park plans for empty Hamstead supermarket approved
An empty supermarket will be turned into a trampoline park after plans received the backing of a council’s planners.
The former and now empty and vandalised Lidl supermarket in Old Walsall Road, Hamstead, will be converted into a trampoline park under plans approved by Sandwell Council.
The plans also include new padel tennis courts on the abandoned site bordering Sandwell and Birmingham.
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A statement included with the application said: “The site is currently abandoned with the building itself and surrounding car parking subject to fly-tipping and graffiti and would benefit from having the use changed to tidy up the site at the start point of the high street.
“The proposal includes raising the roof height of the existing structure to accommodate the specific spatial requirements of trampoline equipment, including necessary clearances for safe use.”
The former supermarket was put on the market for more than £1 million in 2020.
Budget chain Lidl moved 300 metres away along Walsall Road into a new purpose-built and bigger supermarket on the former GKN factory site at the end of 2021.
More than a year ago, Digbeth-based Crown Banqueting put forward proposals to move into the empty supermarket to create a new wedding venue but they were rejected.
The application said the company “urgently” needed to find a new venue because of plans by Birmingham City Council to demolish its current building as part of regeneration projects in the area.
The move by Crown Banqueting came after plans to open a banqueting hall in the former supermarket were thwarted by Sandwell Council two years earlier after significant objections from neighbours.
The plan was criticised for not providing enough parking spaces – and the council was anxious the shortfall would prove problematic for already concerned neighbours.
At the time, the council also said it would reject plans to convert the former supermarket into a banqueting hall unless it could be proven there was a need for a new venue.
