Recent revelations that Walsall Council had no planning enforcement officers which came to light following a question to the Cabinet Member responsible for the service at a recent Full Council meeting has now been addressed. 

Two new officers are now in place and have begun the massive task of ploughing through the backlog of cases which had built up. Good news but you have to ask why did this happen in the first place!

Lib Dem Cllr Ian Shires (Willenhall North) said he was appalled by the administration’s oversight of such a fundamentally important post. “It’s no wonder there has been little or no progress in getting action taken on the many eyesore sites dotted around the borough.”

With the new people now in place the administration needs to identify which Cabinet member has the day to day responsibility and there has to be a transparent system put in place where members of the public and councillors can refer problems and then go on to be able to track progress through to a conclusion. Currently there are no systems in place. It’s no good the administration dealing with the symptoms of the problem they need to cure the disease.

There are many sites which have been affected by the disarray the Cabinet finds itself in. In particular Ian has demanded urgent action be taken to resolve some long standing problems across Willenhall which needs to include the former Brown Jug Public House site and the neighbouring partly completed development of semi detached properties known locally as the Spanish houses, in Sandbeds Road, Short Heath. The empty property at 139 Lichfield Road, New Invention needs also to be tackled as a matter of urgency. Enforcement action was supposed to have been taken back in December of last year on this site.

Another long standing problem site which we feel must be included is the Nottingham Drive Shopping Precinct, New Invention where residents and councillors in the area are fed up with promises and false dawns. “This eyesore of a site attracts fly tipping but the land around the shops which are in private ownership, suffer from a lack of any maintenance. The problem here concerns the absentee landlords who appear to fob off responsibility onto the shop keepers for the state of the place. The council needs to take decisive action to force the private owners to resolve a long standing lack of investment which has left the site looking the blot on the landscape it is.”

Another long standing eyesore belongs to WHG it’s another shopping precinct this time in Shelly Road on the Poets Estate in Short Heath.