Black Country council bids for cash to demolish community centre - to make way for homes

Sandwell Council will be bidding for the maximum amount from the government’s Brownfield Land Release Fund to demolish the former Cradley Heath Community Centre in Reddal Hill Road, Cradley Heath to make way for around 13 new homes.

The move was backed by the Labour-run authority’s cabinet at a meeting last Wednesday (March 11).

The community centre closed in August after councillors deemed it “surplus to requirements.”

The government funding, announced in 2024 and administered by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), can be used to clear “neglected land” – such as empty buildings, former car parks and industrial sites – to make way for new homes.

The site of the former community centre was deemed “the most suitable candidate” for the funding by Sandwell Council and the West Midlands Combined Authority.

At the cabinet meeting, Cllr Peter Hughes, cabinet member for regeneration and infrastructure, said if the bid was successful it would provide an “excellent opportunity” for the council to demolish the community centre and prepare the land for future development.

The council said it had found subsidence on the site and a retaining wall would need to be repaired “as a minimum” – in addition to the demolition of the community centre.

The community centre was used by the Citizens Advice Bureau and drugs and alcohol support groups as well as Yemeni Community Association for English classes.

The centre also hosted exercise, dance and art classes, a youth club, boxing, martial arts and karate groups, a children’s soft play, and yoga and Tai Chi classes.

But despite being well-used, the community centre was still ordered to close under a decision by the Labour-run authority last March.

The council said the building was ‘surplus to requirements’ and its running costs had become a “significant expenditure” with councillors deciding it should be demolished to make way for new housing in the future.

The community centre finally closed in August last year.

Sandwell Council set a savings target of £2.5m in its property management budget – the buildings it owns and runs – last year.

The community centre, a former primary school that was converted in the early 1980s, was run by Sandwell Community Hubs until 2022 when it was handed back to the council.

The centre cost around £54,000 a year to run, according to Sandwell Council, with repairs amounting to at least £11,000 a year.

The council added it would need to spend at least £350,000 in the next five years to repair the building and at least a further £150,000 in the next two decades.

The building’s budget would be “exhausted within the next six months,” councillors were warned a year ago.