Tower block to be built in West Bromwich after plans are backed
A new tower block will be built after plans were backed by councillors.
The move to build an 11-storey tower block with 60 flats on land in Green Street, West Bromwich, has been given the green light by Sandwell Council’s planning committee.
A five-bed home next to the busy Kenrick Way would be demolished to make way for the new tower block if the plans are approved.
More details about the 11-storey tower block and the design of the 60 flats would be included in a separate application, Claremont Planning said, which would need to be approved by the council before work could start.
Katherine Else from Claremont Planning, speaking on behalf of applicant Iqubal Singh, said the 11-storey tower block provided an “important step down” from the taller tower blocks towards the dual carriageway.
Labour councillor Liam Preece, who represents West Bromwich Central where the new tower block would be built, said he supported the work.
“The area already has tower blocks, I know how high they are, and I find it unusual that there is already a house there. I have no objections at all to this,” he said at the planning committee meeting at Sandwell Council House in Oldbury on November 29.
Labour councillor Ellen Fenton, who represents the Bristnall ward, said some of the objections were “premature.”
“You would be hard-pushed to say there isn’t a precedent of taller buildings in the area … I think our hands might be a little bit tied in looking for some material planning consideration to vote against this. I don’t believe one actually exists.”
The 60 flats would be built next to four 17-storey tower blocks in the Kenrick Park estate.
The four tower blocks, Lissimore House, Mountford House, Greenford House and Kenrick House all date back to the 1960s.
The land in Green Street has not been included in any of the council’s plans as a future plot for housing – which means it is classed as a ‘windfall’ site.
