Work starts on Kingswinford housing after £1m clean-up
Work to build 115 homes at a former brick works in Kingswinford is set to begin after a local-authority backed clean-up operation on the site.
The West Midlands Combined Authority says its £1m investment in remediation at the former Ibstock Brickworks on Stallings Lane has paved the way for the next phase of the development, with 155 homes already built on the site.
An outline application to redevelop the land for a £65m mixed-use development which also includes a retail park on the 19-acre site was approved in 2018.
Housebuilder Keepmoat snapped up the land in early 2021, with detailed planning permission for a 270-home scheme granted in 2022.
Keepmoat became a strategic partner of the WMCA two years ago and has made a commitment to build 4,000 additional new homes in the region over ten years. Stallings Place follows previous joint schemes including Keepmoat’s development of more than 1,000 homes at Spirit Quarters in Coventry.
“This investment in Stallings Place will breathe new life into another derelict industrial site and provide good quality, much needed housing for local people,” said West Midlands Mayor, Richard Parker.
“Around a quarter of these homes will be affordable, and that’s good news because too many people are waiting too long for a warm, safe place they can afford to call home.
“Tackling our housing crisis by building more homes of all types, but especially affordable housing, is a shared goal, and I’m confident that by working with developers like Keepmoat as well as our housing associations and local councils we can make a real difference to the lives of thousands of people in our communities.”
Cllr Ian Bevan, cabinet member for housing and homelessness at Dudley Council, said the authority would “very much welcome” the scheme, which will bring a brownfield site which has lain derelict for many years back into use.
“It ties in very strongly with our brownfield first strategy outlined in the Dudley Plan and aligns with our aim to protect green land from development wherever possible,” he said.
“I am pleased that a quarter of the new homes will be classed as affordable and offer people an important first step onto the housing ladder. I look forward to the start of work on this exciting development in our borough.”
