Next phase of huge housing estate approved in Coseley
The next phase of a huge housing development in Coseley has been approved after re-evaluation following the discovery of mine workings.
The latest application was for a total of 208 new homes on a site on land south of Bean Road.
The new homes will be a mix of 128 detached, semi-detached and terraced houses plus 80 apartments on the western side of a development called Coseley Park.
The whole site will deliver up to 925 new homes on land in Coseley bordered by Bean Road, Birmingham New Road, Birmingham Main Line Canal and Sedgley Road West.
The new application was for a revised layout after additional mine entries were found.
A report from council planning officers on the application said: “The site is known to contain a number of mine entries and has been subject to industrial processes and tipping where contamination and soil gases may pose a risk.
“Neither the Land Contamination Team or the Coal Authority raise objection on this matter.”
Planning conditions attached to the outline permission for development of the entire site back in March 2016 also say building cannot begin until investigation and remedial work has been completed in relation to mine workings and contaminated land.
A report prepared for the initial planning applications by consultants BWB said the site was known to have a long history of mining and heavy industry dating back to the industrial revolution.
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1880s show 93 mine shafts and colliery spoil heaps although by the second decade of the 1900s the most well-known industry associated with the site had arrived in the form of Bean Cars.
At its peak the company produced 10,000 cars a year, by the late 1930s the site had a range of industries operating including a foundry and a hook and eye factory while maps from the time also show a sewage works.
