Homes planned for former battery factory site

An artist's impression shows the plan for new homes along the Wyrley and Essington Canal in Wolverhampton

A dilapidated and "unattractive" former battery factory beside a canal in Wolverhampton could be replaced with 31 new homes.

Plans have been submitted to the city council to build the homes on the site of the former G&P Batteries factory in Grove Street, Heath Town.

The "affordable" housing would be built by developer Wonderful Homes in partnership with housing association Black Country Housing Group.

The planning application said the redevelopment would improve the "outlook, biodiversity and safety" of the Wyrley and Essington Canal, which runs alongside the site, and "provide lasting benefits" to the local area.

The application stated the scheme would "bring back into productive use a long-derelict brownfield site that has remained unused for over 25 years".

It added: "It delivers affordable housing, canal-side environmental improvements and an approach that aligns with local and strategic regeneration objectives."

The land is described as being "significantly" contaminated because of its industrial past, with investigations finding "widespread" pollutants such as lead and asbestos.

The site is being cleaned up through money from the West Midlands Combined Authority, and work must begin before March next year for the Black Country Housing Group to access Homes England funding.

The factory closed in 1998, and its buildings were demolished a decade later, but the area has since become overgrown with vegetation and debris, the application said.

It added that the derelict site had created safety and antisocial behaviour concerns along the canal, describing it as "unmanaged and unattractive" and "dominated by old tin metal fencing, dense scrub, self-seeded saplings, and mounds of demolition debris".

Previous plans to redevelop the land have failed to progress, including various proposals for flats and townhouses from 2006 to 2021.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.