A friend said ‘the picture reminds me of days gone by when men tended their allotments and chewed the cud." Another friend, seeing the thriving vine hanging off the veranda, said it looked as if we were in Greece. Ron Collins, Chair of the Friends of Black Patch Park, came round to discuss Sandwell MBC’s plans to permit a development on one third of the park despite their 2007 decision to respect the park’s original boundaries in 2007 … Agenda item 5 of a Report to the Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Transport, Councillor Bob Badham, Sandwell MBC, dated 21 February 2007, states:
Within the adopted Unitary Development Plan, sites around Black Patch Park, near to the Soho Foundry were allocated for industrial uses in order to attract investment for a Technology Park. However, this has not come to fruition. A recent Employment Land Survey has revealed that there is no immediate need for further industrial land in this location. As there are no deliverable proposals identified, and to accommodate the wishes of Friends of Black Patch Park to retain the Park area, these allocations have been removed. The land will therefore form a green focal point for any development which takes place on the adjoining sites. The Preferred Option for land adjacent to Soho Foundry has been allocated for Mixed Used which can incorporate industrial and offices, and possibly leisure, community and educational facilities associated to the Foundry once a suitable re-use has been identified. Smethwick Area Action Plan – Preferred Option Document (Cabinet Forward Plan Ref. No. RT089). (Photo: Winnie Hall) democracystreet.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/my-plot.html
