This land has remained empty for a decade now.

Hey folks, this is important – I was sent a link to this press release by friend of the blog Sarah Treadwell on Friday, and this it is potentially great news. I’ve known for a while that Walsall Housing Group have been looking to redevelop the land left vacant a decade ago with the demolition of Silver Court Gardens in central Brownhills.

It seems the social landlord has finally got it into gear, and are consulting on the phased construction of 197 new homes in Brownhills, spanning from Silver Street to Lindon Drive, at the rear of Humpries House. This can only be a good thing. Nearly 200 dwellings will bring new footfall to the town centre, repopulate a swathe of derelict wasteland and provide jobs and work for local construction and engineering firms – not to mention local cafes and shops.

With a canalside location, and looking to Clayhanger Common, this should be an attractive, popular development.

Walsall Housing Group will have a mobile consultation bus on the car park of Tesco, Brownhills, next Friday (2nd May 2014) from 10am to 4pm where you can chat to experts and find out more.

Of course, at the moment, this is just a proposal; this is a consultation plan which I urge Brownhills residents to get involved in as much as possible. I would tenure that funding will need to be found, and of course the scheme must get through planning, too.

For comparison, the development at Anchor Bridge in Brownhills took a while to come to fruition, however proposals at Deakin Avenue, Wessex Close and the former site of Bayley House have come on a whole lot quicker.

My feeling is that recent ground testing drilling in the Silver Court Gardens and old marketplace area are related to this plan. It’ll be interesting to see how this progresses.

Best wishes to Walsall Housing Group with this, it has my full support – my only criticism is that it really has taken too long. If we want a retail renaissance in Brownhills, key to that must be re-use of derelict land and an increase in close local habitation. This could well be the key.

I invite comment here, or to BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com, but please do use the feedback form on the Walsall Housing Group page too.

From the Site Layout Plan in the documents supplied by Walsall Housing Group.

Public consultation

We are proposing to build a total of 197 homes in Silver Court, which will be split across three phases. This will include 45 one and two bedroom apartments and bungalows for general needs, and 62 one and two bedroom apartments for over 55s. There will also be 50 one to four bed houses for open market sale.

A consultation event will be held on Friday 2nd May, 10am to 4pm, at our mobile unit bus on Tesco Brownhills car park. Colleagues from our Regeneration, Development and Estate Management teams will be on hand to answer your questions.

Further information about the proposal can be found below:

Build phasing plan
General needs consultation
House types and street scene
Over 55s consultation
Phasing plan consultation
Site layout

If you would like to give us your views, please complete the form at the Walsall Housing Group website by clicking here.