Plans to demolish factory to make way for 125 flats off West Bromwich High Street approved

The former Tentec site in West Bromwich is set to be demolished and replaced with 125 new flats after a planning application was backed by Sandwell Council.

Most of the Guns Lane site behind West Bromwich High Street has been empty since the engineering firm moved out of the city to a new home on the i54 business park on the Wolverhampton border in 2017.

The planning application for the flats was first submitted almost two years ago but was amended six times – including reducing the size and height – before it was approved by planners at Sandwell Council.

The site would be demolished and replaced with eight new blocks. A total of 60 parking spaces are also included.

Sandwell Council requested several changes before its planners were satisfied with the application.

The application initially outlined plans for more than 140 flats in several buildings, some reaching five storeys – which the council said would be “supervisory”.

Council planners also said the proposed layout was “crowded and overcrowded” and criticized it for looking “shoe-flat”.

A statement included in the application said: “In light of the recent influx of working professionals moving into the local area and West Bromwich, the housing sector is under increasing pressure to provide enough housing stock to cope the request.

“Many professionals see the changing face of living environments as a way to differentiate themselves from the competition. Currently a mostly vacant industrial site (part leased), the proposal to demolish the site will allow the site to be used for a much larger number of habitable residential units in the local area.

“The proposal includes parking spaces and bicycle spaces on the ground floor.

“Users of the new apartment block, which will be mainly made up of single-working professionals and new first-time buyers who will work in the city centre, will have greater access to local bus and cycle routes, which will encourage a more ecological movement. .”