Whilst bimbling about Brownhills last week, I noticed the absence of something. The something in question was so notable that it got a blog post all to itself, but now it’s been professionally removed and the plot thickens…

And there it was… gone. Curious. Silver Street, Brownhills, 1:08pm Thursday, 18th November 2010.

Back in September I recorded the appearance of a sign indicating that builder Morris Homes were planning to commence a new development on long-derelict land just off Silver Street in Brownhills. This caused some consternation locally, as permission for the development apparently advertised seemingly hadn’t been sought and the sign seemed to be jumping the gun a little. I posted about the mystery in the post ‘Predictable outcomes‘ on the 15th September.

As of this weekend, there are no new applications for this land, and still none describing the houses portrayed on the sign erected. The sign has been professionally removed, posts and all, so it hasn’t just blown over or been stolen – it was professionally erected and didn’t look vulnerable to such misfortune. One can only assume the sign has been removed by the people who erected it.

Anyone seen a large sign? Looked just like this...

The mystery is why it was put up in the first place – was it an error, or were the developers given a nod and acted too soon? It certainly seemed to be rather pre-empting the planning process. On the other hand, one would imagine such signage to be expensive to produce and put up, so one would think the people who put it up knew what they were doing. Of course, I could be wrong and the advertisement has been nicked by people with a large vehicle and a consciencious approach to metal theft, including filling the post-holes back in.

Have any readers got any more information? It surely is a wonder…