Ravens Court is a mess: not just physically, but historically and legally. Image by Pete Hummings.

I’m always careful here not to get folks hopes up unnecessarily, particularly on longstanding and serious matters that have occupied the blog for a long time – but I’m interested to note as many blog readers and regulars have done that for a couple of weeks now, Ravens Court in Brownhills has been receiving very close attention from a whole bunch of surveyors.

I have no idea what they’re doing – and the folks on the ground seem a bit cagey. Reader Lee sent me this photo on Monday morning:

Reader Lee sent me this image yesterday morning showing the vans of teams working on site at Ravens Court – Cheers, Lee, appreciated. Click for a larger version.

Survey Solutions are – as one might expect – a heavyweight land and building survey company (see here) and Vacant Property Services seem to be a general building services/handyman type operation (see their Facebook here) interestingly sharing a phone number with some kind of estate agency in Harborne, Birmingham (see here).

One can hope this is all a precursor to something finally happening with the doomed, derelict shopping precinct, but don’t forget, we’ve been here before in 2014. It’s true that the owners of the site, Lightquote Limited, a property holding operation, have been coming under increasing pressure from Walsall Council to act to improve the eyesore, but whether this is a genuine move to do so or more lip service is anyone’s guess.

I ran through the troubled history of Ravens Court here a few weeks ago, and pointed out, with the aid of great original research and writing by Gerald Reece, that the history of retail in Brownhills was not as rosy as some might have remembered. I also pointed out some salient points regarding the current position.

It’d be great to find out what is actually happening here, and once again I must publicly thank Councillor Steve Wade for actively chasing up any news.

If you know what’s afoot here, please do get in touch: Either comment here, or mail me (in total confidence, naturally) if you prefer – BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com. Thanks.

Image from ‘Brownhills: a walk into history’ by Gerald Reece.