A CRUMBLING pub that was forced to close down before it collapsed will now be demolished and replaced with flats.
The empty former Waggon and Horses in Smethwick will be flattened to make way for 11 new flats after the application was given the seal of approval by Sandwell Council’s planning committee.
The pub was forced to close in August 2021 over fears the dilapidated building was at risk of ‘total’ collapse.
The move drew criticism from neighbours with a total of 28 objections submitted ahead of the planning meeting – largely over the lack of car parking spaces.
One objector told councillors at the meeting that “community sentiment was against the proposal” and called for greater public consultation over the future of the site. He also raised concerns over a shortfall in parking spaces.
“The [council] was previously concerned about the lack of visitor parking, so my question is, what has changed now and what was the concern then that is not a concern now?” he asked.
The objector also said the proposed flats were out of character for the area and “far too high.” He invited the council’s planning committee to visit the site of the crumbling pub on a Friday afternoon, when the area is at its busiest, to see “first-hand” how the flats would add to parking problems. The invite was put to a vote but was narrowly lost with planning chair Cllr Kay Miller using her casting vote to throw out the chance to visit.
Cllr Bob Piper said the former pub needed demolishing sooner rather than later.
“If we don’t demolish it soon, it will fall down of its own accord,” he told the planning committee at the meeting on June 26. “We need to get something done with the building one way or the other.”
Sandwell Council’s planners approved an application by Sir Henry Properties to demolish the hole-filled building in March 2022 but the work was never carried out.
Sandwell Council’s planning officers had recommended the move was approved in a report ahead of the meeting – saying it would bring a “great benefit by regenerating a derelict public house site with much-needed housing.”
The council’s planners said the eyesore pub had been the subject of “numerous” complaints over the years and its owner was recently served with an untidy land notice. It had been “actively” working with the building’s owners to demolish the pub.
Before its forced closure, the pub on the corner of Lewisham Road and Halfords Lane was a favoured haunt of West Bromwich Albion supporters with it being only a short walk from the club’s home ground the Hawthorns.
The crumbling pub was not only a risk to patrons but passers-by and was fenced off in 2021.
Sandwell Council made several attempts to inspect the building but were brushed off by the pub’s then-owners Jasbinder Singh Kang and Amandeep Singh Shanker.
An inspection carried out by the council before the order was served found dry and wet rot throughout the building with a large leaking hole in the roof.
West Midlands Fire Service, which had raised concerns about the “dangerous condition” of the building in January 2020, accused the pub’s owners of “aggression and abuse” when refusing officers entry to inspect the crumbling building.
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