Empty Oldbury care home will be demolished for new homes

The former Grafton Lodge care home in Oldbury will be knocked down and replaced with 18 new ‘affordable’ homes according to a planning application backed by Sandwell Council.

The care home was deemed “not fit for purpose” and “surplus to requirements” by the Black Country local authority which agreed to put the building on the market.

The site was valued between £600,000 and £630,000 with the former the estimate price if the land was used for new homes.

The local authority said it was open to offers under the market value if it meant more ‘affordable’ housing was built.

A mix of ‘affordable’ two-and-three-bed homes would be built after the former care home was demolished, according to the application by developer Keon Homes and Citizen Housing.

The council’s planners said the homes were of “satisfactory standard” to be approved and they “would have a limited impact on the amenity of the surrounding area.”

The report outlining the approval said: “There are no adverse impacts which would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits of approving the application […] having particular regard to key policies for directing development to sustainable locations, making effective use of land, securing well-designed places and providing affordable homes, individually or in combination.”

Grafton Lodge care home was threatened with closure in 2010 with the facilities deemed “outdated” and “too expensive to run” before eventually being deemed surplus to requirements more than a decade later.

Sandwell Council outsourced the running of Grafton Lodge, as well as other care homes in the borough, to the ‘arms-length’ charity Sandwell Community Caring Trust in 2013.

A new £6million care home, Harvest View, opened in Harvest Road, Rowley Regis in 2022. The council reached an agreement in 2017 for staff at Grafton Lodge to move to Harvest View once it opened.