'Everything will be 100 times worse' - Smethwick business owners fearful as controversial HMO decision looms
Business owners in Smethwick say they continue to face break-ins, parking problems and fly-tipping as a decision looms over whether a controversial HMO will be built.
Smethwick will be receiving £20m government funding across the next decade aimed at tidying up the town, improving facilities and making it safer.
And while the regeneration of the town’s High Street is seen as a big priority, some say its existing problems have been ignored for too long and show no signs of improving.
A move to open an 11-bed house of multiple occupation (HMO) in the high street proved to be a contentious issue for locals last year and was eventually thrown out by Sandwell Council’s planning committee – amid a warning that allowing an influx of the cramped shared accommodation was turning parts of the borough into slums.
Residents and local councillors said Smethwick High Street was already suffering from overflowing bins, fly-tipping, bad parking, rats, blocked drains and the new HMO would make “everything 100 times worse.”
But as a result of an appeal launched at the start of the year, the HMO could still be built if a government inspector decides to overrule Sandwell Council and the fear that ‘everything will be 100 times worse’ could soon become a reality.
This has angered some shop owners in Smethwick who say not only do they not want the HMO but they have yet to see much progress on eliminating Smethwick’s existing problems.
“Smethwick is a fantastic place,” one takeaway owner said. “There’s huge diversity, the amount of shops, the variety, the amount of different people is great.
“It’s wrong to just call it a slum or a dump, it’s nothing like that, but any or all of the problems here are of the council’s own doing I think and it’s on them to do something to change it or make it better.”
Some of the ongoing problems that were described to councillors by residents during last year’s planning meeting have shown no sign of fading away.
Street drinking and drug-taking behind the shops remain a daily occurrence according to locals as well as littering, urinating and defecating in the street coupled with constant litter and mounds of fly-tipping which attracts rats and other vermin.
Staff in one shop say that attempts have been made to get CCTV installed to make the area safer but the plans have not been supported.
“Some of our staff are scared to go outside after 6pm. They are scared to go out the back because they don’t know what they will find.
“We won’t even go around some corners over the fear of what might be there.”
The tight Victoria Avenue, a narrow thoroughfare off Smethwick Hugh Street that has just enough room to fit a car, is what is expected to serve businesses, existing residents and potentially more people if the 11-bed HMO is approved.
The fact that nobody has been seriously injured at the junction continues to be a shock and many have dubbed it a ‘death’ road.
During even a short visit, we could see for ourselves how the tight pothole-covered gap between the row of High Street shops and Smethwick Council House was frequented by cars, scooters, delivery vans, a police car as well as vulnerable pedestrians with prams and walking frames who were all trying to negotiate their way through the same space.
“Somebody will be killed there one day, for sure,” one shop owner warned. “You can see for yourself how many cars are constantly coming through such a tiny narrow street. There’s no space for parking here as it is for the people here already and they want to put another 20-odd people here? And they don’t think these people will have cars?
“Sort out the problems now before you start stacking more people on top of each other.
“You have cars and vans and all sorts trying to blindly come out onto the road – across a pavement and a cycle path as well – and it’s a miracle, a real miracle, that nobody has been hurt yet.
“There’s plenty of space behind the council house next door, why can’t they put a car park there? It doesn’t even have to be a car park, it’s just empty land, do something with it.”
Another shop owner said the lack of action over anti-social behaviour has forced him to invest in extra and tighter security measures to prevent not only break-ins at night but also stop others from causing trouble during the day.
“We’ve got locks everywhere on both front and doors,” he continued. “We had homeless people congregating outside in the doorway who kept trying to get in so we had to put in a lock during the day. It’s ridiculous.”
