Pub site to be transformed
A derelict pub targeted by vandals will be transformed into a six bedroom house under new plans.
Just last week, a planning application to tear down the Sneyd Inn on Vernon Way, Bloxwich, and replace it with 21 homes was withdrawn by developers.
However, new plans to utilise the site as a 'six bedroom dwelling' after it closed for business last year, have been recomended for approval by planning officers at Walsall Council.
A report attached to the planning application reads: "Currently the derelict nature of the site has meant the site has been used for dumping grounds and not befitting for the green belt locality of the site.
"It has been reported recently that there have been a number of car thefts and fires on the site due to it being a hotspot for youngsters to congregate and gather on the premises.
"The open and un-maintained nature of the site allows this to continue and will only increase the damage to the site.
"Currently the pub is not in use meaning a large part of the site is derelict and not maintained resulting in a dumping site which has also been known for being unsafe, vandalised and other crime,"
The pub was put up for sale in 2015, however no interest had been registered in purchasing the site until the previous application to flatten the site and build homes was submitted in May 2016.
Before its closure, the pub was hit by a spate of burglaries, with the site being targeted five times in six months in 2011.
A number of pubs in the Bloxwich area have been closed and become a target for vandals in recent years.
In particular, the state of the former Leathern Bottle and Eagle pub sites in Creswell Crescent have long been an issue with Walsall MP David Winnick.
Developer SEP Properties has recently applied to build 17 flats on the site of The Eagle, which had travellers set up camp outside in November.
The Leathern Bottle, which has also been a target for vandals, was the subject of a planning application for shops, homes and another pub back in 2012, however, nothing came of the plans.
In 2010, The Bulls Head, which had stood on Park Road, Bloxwich, since the 1920s, was hit by arson in an attack which saw the building's roof collapse.
