15/10/2026
A supporting statement as a partnering organisation to Wednesbury 2000
Statement on proposed HMO Holyhead Road Wednesbury.
HMO planning permission submitted on 4th September for 36 Holyhead Road- Planning reference: DC/26/71822
Please help us question and oppose the plans for an 8 person multiple occupancy building directly next to and semi-detached from our building The Old Post Office on Holyhead Road.
We have started a petition, which you can sign below but we will require much further support to contest this. Please see the infographic of how you can help us and also our reasoning will we be submitting to contest this. Please feel free to use our reasonings alongside your own to why you would like to contest the planning permission.
https://www.change.org/p/prevent-conversion-of-local-building-into-an-hmo?recruiter=1432472385&recruited_by_id=6bb1a130-c878-11f1-846e-851367748a8a&utm_source=share_petition&utm_campaign=starter_onboarding_share_personal&utm_medium=copylink&share_id=8WHHvDfPj5
How this will impact Wednesbury 2000 and the reasoning for our appeal:
1. Congestion & Parking- Highways England Issue
The Old Post Office is a busy building used by many community groups and community businesses which already causes busy pinch points throughout the week, regularly filling all on street parking, Albert Street Car Park and the surrounding pavements. This plan proposed not only a residential (which will increase population flow) but it also proposes the car park to be built upon meaning there will be no parking provisions. This will increase the pressure and create an unsafe environment surrounding both the front and back entrance to our building.
2. Pressured drainage system- Environmental Health issue
We already operate with a full to capacity drainage system, which regularly floods sewage around the building during the Winter months and when experiencing heavy rain flow. Investigation into this found the local drainage system was overwhelmed after the building of Morrisons in close proximity. A residential building directly next door will exponentially increase the drainage pressure and inevitably increase the amount of sewage floods on Holyhead Road and Albert Street, ultimately making the area unsafe to be in and a health risk to it's users.
3. Safeguarding- Sandwell Councill Safeguarding issue
The close proximity of the building will mean that residents will have a view directly into our building from what would be their own homes. As we operate as a community building we have over 600 weekly attendees who are either children or vulnerable adults, many of which will be participating in dance, fitness and martial arts classes. This would cause a safeguarding risk for all participants and community groups which could then lead to a loss of provision for young people and elderly.
4. Loss of local heritage- Heritage England issue
Over the last 6 years we have volunteered tirelessly to bring The Old Post Office safely into public use, securing 100s of thousands of pounds of grants to keep this building open and safely accessible to the local community and to ensure continuation of the public realm of the area. With a residential building being semi-detached to us it will reduce the amount of renovations we can complete on the building. This could mean in future the safety of the building could be compromised and it will fall int disuse.
5. Community Offer- All residents of Wednesbury
The aims and objectives of our charity is to provide accessible space within Wednesbury and create a community network. We have built a strong network within our building that offers lots to the community including dance classes, music lessons and music studio facilities, fitness sessions, Karate lessons, youth club sessions, seasonal events, craft fayres, children's parties, a Sunday church service and many different charity outreach appeals such as food banks, Christmas presents, Easter Egg hunts and more. If the proposed building deters locals from using our building it will mean we can no longer fund and offer these services which will be a huge loss to the community.
