Bloxwich pub blighted by fly-tipping and shut after a man was shot is to be turned into homes
An eyesore pub which has been blighted by travellers is to be flattened and replaced with homes.
Walsall Council planning chiefs agreed at a meeting on Thursday that the Eagle Pub, on Cresswell Crescent in Bloxwich, be knocked down and replaced by an apartment block with 17 apartments.
The pub has been derelict since 2007 when it was shut after a man was shot in the leg with a shotgun.
Travellers have regularly pitched up on the site and it has been left to ruin, prompting legal action to be taken by Walsall Council against the owner - which remains ongoing.
There was no hesitation around the plans at Thursday's meeting, with councillors unanimously approving the plans go ahead.
Councillor Angela Underhill, the deputy-chair of the committee, raised concerns over fire safety given the tower block fire in London, but a council officer assured her that the the strictest regulations are in place.
Once this had been addressed the plans sailed through.
It means, subject to the council's head of planning agreeing a section 106 agreement, the pub will be replaced by a three-storey apartment block.
The block will contain 17 one-bed flats with 13 parking spaces, including two disabled spaces, and shared private amenity space at the rear.
The block will be split into three segments joined by staircase lobbies. Cycle storage will be available within each of the lobbies and a separate motorcycle store will also be available on site.
Bloxwich councillor Bradley Allen has welcomed the plans. He said: "Me and my colleagues welcome the decision made at planning. It is something we have been campaigning for for a number of years.
"Obviously the redevelopment in the area has been needed for years and it is going to help improve the overall look of the area.
"Naturally now the plans have gone through the development will stop travellers pitching up and put a halt to the fly-tipping that has blighted the land.
"I am sure the Mossley estate residents are glad of the plans."
The pub sits on Cresswell Crescent on the Mossley Estate, the same site of another eyesore former pub the Leathern Bottle. The sites are owned by the same person.
The Leathern Bottle has already been demolished but nothing has been done since, with rubble left blighting the site and causing misery for people on the estate.
The two former pubs are just yards apart and are the subject of ongoing legal action by Walsall Council to have them cleared up.
