Green light for gym on former slaughterhouse site

A new gym on the site of a former slaughterhouse in Kingswinford has been given the go-ahead by planners. Dudley Council has granted retrospective planning permission for the gym at 45 Summer Street.

The site, which has been most recently been operating as a retail unit, had already been converted into a gym and planners have now approved the change of use. A statement supporting the application said: “This small facility has created a community of individuals who have been brought together by a successful and focussed lead practitioner.

“In addition to successfully opening and running a personal training business the owner has given back to society whenever possible. “The clients have completed a series of challenges raising in excess of £5,000 for the local Acorns Children’s Charity.”

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Retrospective permission has also been granted for a house in multiple occupation (HMO) despite concerns from West Midlands Police. The council has approved a change of use application for Janeth House, Hilltop Road in Dudley for it to continue as a four-bedroom HMO.

In a report council officers said: “West Midlands Police have raised concerns with the change of use of this property to a house in multiple occupancy. “Whilst based on the police’s comments that there is a trend between increased crime rates and the location of HMO’s, each application should be assessed on its own merits and there is no specific evidence in relation to this application property and crime rate in the area.

“As such, whilst the police’s concerns are acknowledged, these are not enough to warrant refusal in this instance.” Permission has been granted for a new industrial unit on Thornleigh Trading Estate on Farthings Lane in Dudley.

The development will create a new 1,300 square metre unit with parking for a total of eight vehicles. Also on Farthings Lane, plans for a new six-metre high internally illuminated totem sign on land covered by an all inclusive tree preservation order.

Planners accepted a recommendation to refuse the application from officers who said: “The proposed totem advertisement is of an excessive size, scale, height and visual prominence and would appear as a strident and visually incongruous feature in the street scene.”

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