'Affordable' flats planned for former Rowley Regis day centre site approved
A planning application to build ‘affordable’ flats on the site of a former Rowley Regis day centre and library has been approved.
SWG Construction and Sandwell Council will build nine flats on the site of the former Harvest Road day centre in Rowley Regis.
The building had served as a library for more than a decade before being demolished in recent years.
The council’s planning officers said in a report: “The development would be a sufficient distance from neighbouring properties as to raise no significant concerns regarding its impact on light, outlook and privacy.
“The massing, scale and appearance of the development would be proportionate to the area and raises no concerns regarding its impact on the character or the visual amenity of the wider area.
“The proposal raises no significant design or amenity concerns, is policy-compliant, and would contribute to much-needed housing in the borough.”
Housing officers at Sandwell Council said there was a “critical shortage” of three and four-bed flats for families needing more space – which has been reflected in the mix of flats proposed in the application.
The high demand for one-bed flats from those classed with a ‘non-emergency’ need – such as overcrowding – was nearly a year according to the council’s figures with ‘very high’ waits of more than four years for a three-bed flat and nearly nine years for four-bed flats.
The council granted permission to demolish the former library in 2022 and also gave the green light to an application by the NHS to build eight houses on the land in the previous year.
The former Harvest Road day centre was converted into a special library service – which supplied books to the elderly, disabled and nursing home – in 2012.
The application said the library service was due to move out of the building leaving it empty.
The flats would be built opposite the flagship Harvest View nursing home which opened in 2022.
The 80-bed care facility brings together health and social care staff to help people back into the home after hospital stays.
SWG Construction and Sandwell Council is also considering a similar housing scheme near the new Horseley Road metro stop in Tipton.
