Wolverhampton: latest plan to build flats on eyesore Bilston site left empty for 20 years

A planning application to build eight two-bed flats in Pipes Meadow, Bilston, has been backed by City of Wolverhampton Council.

The plans by developer Billy Singh come after a similar plan was backed in 2021 but expired after no work was carried out within three years.

The flats would be built between the town’s former Royal Mail sorting office and the busy Black Country Route.

A report outlining the council’s approval said: “This is an existing vacant site and does not make a positive contribution to the character or appearance of the [area] due to its poor physical condition.

“The proposed redevelopment of this space for residential use would provide additional housing in this centre location [and] improve the visual appearance of this area.

“The site is within a town centre setting and therefore no additional parking is required, there is also parking provision within close proximity of the site.”

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Most of the buildings behind the former sorting office were demolished in 2005 and 2006 to allow for work to be carried out to cap the below mines but have been left to rot.

The overgrown has now been an eyesore for nearly 20 years as well as a hotspot for fly-tipping.

City of Wolverhampton Council’s planners approved an application for eight flats in 2021 despite “fundamental concerns” from the Coal Authority over the presence of mines underneath the proposed flats. The government body said it did not support any building above mine entries – even when they have been treated – and called that part of Pipes Meadow a “high-risk area.”

Approving the plans three years ago, the council said its “poor physical condition” did not make a positive contribution to the area.

“The proposed redevelopment of this space for residential use would provide additional housing in this centre location, improve the visual appearance of this area and will respond positively to the conservation area,” the council’s planners said.

A number of plans to build shops, a banqueting suite and a new bar with function rooms on the land were put forward throughout the late 90s and early 00s and despite being approved were never built.

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The sorting office closed controversially in 2019 leaving many customers to travel more than three miles to Wolverhampton’s delivery office in Sun Street to collect missed parcels.

The former post office became a recruitment and training centre before closing where it has remained empty for a number of years. The sorting office has since become a second-hand car dealer.

While the flats were never built, more work was carried out in July 2021 to cap the old mineshaft entrance. Reports included with the application said the “bulk” of the site had been stabilised with a 70m2 patch of land requiring extra work before building could begin. The new building would need reinforced foundations and be built as far away from the mineshaft as possible – with the entrance also needing capping, the reports said.