More homes added to estate in Sandwell
Sandwell Council has given permission to housing developer, Persimmon, to build a further 18 homes, on land on the edge of its latest estate in Wednesbury
Plans, to add more plots to a 105-home estate in Wednesbury, have been approved.
Sandwell Council has given permission to housing developer, Persimmon, to build a further 18 homes, on land on the edge of its latest estate off Friar Park Road, in Wednesbury.
The land, which is also a protected site of local importance to nature conservation, was intended to remain as mostly woodland, with a new children’s play area and a balancing pond included in the plans, approved by Sandwell Council in 2024.
The new and updated plans, submitted by Persimmon in October last year, showed a smaller children’s play area would be moved to another location, nearer to the Elm Tree Primary Academy.
Persimmon already had permission to build 84 homes on the playing fields, after plans were given the green light by Sandwell Council in 2020, but the developer later returned in 2023, with larger proposals.
Woodland, which had been expected to be retained and protected, was cleared by the developer, before the planning application for the extra homes was submitted last year.
A handful of objections were made against the work, saying the homes were being ‘squeezed’ into the space, but the plans were still approved.
The objection said: “The original proposal, although not ideal, was accepted because it retained the substantial belt of trees, included appropriate open space and a well-sized play area and avoided the placement of dwellings.
“The amended application removes these protections and introduces intrusive, dense, and harmful development where none previously existed.”
The planned new homes are just one of several applications currently in the works in Wednesbury.
The huge new £20m Friar Park ‘urban village’, which is set to be built in the next several years, includes more than 600 new homes.
Friar Park was also awarded £20m in government funding, to be spent on community facilities for the ‘left behind’ estate across the next decade.