Draft Regulation 18 Sandwell Local Plan

Cradley Heath

9.169 Cradley Heath is a linear town in the Rowley Town area, one of Sandwell's six historic centres, and lies in the southwest corner of the borough. Cradley Heath is in the Cradley Heath and Old Hill Ward.

9.170 It is the largest ward in Rowley with 14,961 residents, which has increased by around 10.3% since the 2011 census. This echoes changes in Sandwell as a whole, which has seen an 11% rise in population.

9.171 Cradley Heath and Old Hill Ward is the ninth most populous in Sandwell. It has a high prevalence of single person households (non-pensioners). At 20.7% this compares with a town average for Rowley of 16.9%.

9.172 Cradley Heath's population is 77.6% white British / white Other, 4.4% Mixed, 11% Asian or Asian British and 4.2% Black or Black British groups: Sandwell's population overall is 57.3% white British / white other^[161].

9.173 19.5% of the residents of Cradley Heath and Old Hill are retired. The proportion of residents who are long-term sick or disabled in Rowley is highest in Cradley Heath and Old Hill ward (6.1%).

9.174 Cradley Heath and Old Hill has a lower level of owner-occupation than the Borough average. It has the highest proportion of social and private renting and shared ownership in the town. The proportion of households renting from a private landlord or letting agency has increased from 12.5% in 2011 to 17.8% in 2021.

9.175 53.4% of the population Cradley Heath and Old Hill ward are economically active and the proportion of those who are unemployed is lower than the average for Sandwell as a whole (4.2% compared to 4.5%).

Figure 8 - Cradley Heath Town Centre

© Crown copyright and database rights 2023, Ordnance Survey Licence No AC0000824500

Retail and Town Centre Uses

9.176 The centre has a large 'Tesco Extra' store, which acts as an 'anchor' and generates many pedestrian and vehicle trips to the town. However, away from this immediate area, activity drops off significantly. The environment near to the superstore has good quality public realm with opportunities for visitors to sit and interact. Away from this immediate area the townscape is less welcoming, and parts of the town have poor-quality and aging shop fronts, with several shuttered and vacant units and little opportunity for public interaction.

9.177 In other towns the arrival of a major food retailer has complemented and boosted trade in independent stores throughout the centre. In Cradley Heath, however, this does not seem to be the case. Here, the size of the Tesco store and the pre-existing fragility of the town's traditional retail offer means that Tesco offers a one-stop retail destination that has drawn activity away from the rest of the town.

9.178 Vacancies have been rising in the centre, particularly in the Market Square, indicating a period of decline. This centre, like many others, needs to move away from being principally concerned with retailing and towards fostering non-transactional interactions and providing more residential opportunities on unoccupied sites and upper floors. The vacant commercial premises and sites in the town, if redeveloped for residential use, will bolster the remaining retail and commercial functions.

9.179 Cradley Heath, along with other towns in Sandwell and the Black Country, shows no capacity for additional comparison retail and limited convenience retail as far as can be forecast. To protect the centre's remaining vitality and viability, out-of-centre and edge-of-centre town centre uses should be robustly tested through impact and sequential tests before permission is granted, with retail development focused on redevelopment and reconfiguration / extension of existing capacity in the centre.

SWOT

9.180 The Centres Study identified the following characteristics for Cradley Heath:

Aspirations

9.181 An increase in street furniture and other decorative schemes such as planting would make the area both more attractive and more functional.

9.182 The centre's frontages need refurbishment and modernisation to improve their current tired and neglected appearance.

9.183 Rowley Regis Towns Fund includes an improved scheme called "Rowley Connected", aimed at promoting improvements to walking and cycling across Rowley. A committed element of this scheme involves a project to create safe cycle linkages along Cradley Heath High Street, continuing via Lower High Street and as far as Cradley Heath interchange. This work is scheduled for completion in 2024.

9.184 As part of the "Rowley Connected" scheme, there are plans under consideration to upgrade and resurface an informal footpath connecting St Luke's Church with the open space at Bearmore playing fields, and for this ultimately to be extended to provide a low-traffic route between Cradley Heath and Old Hill centres, for walkers and cyclists.

9.185 Rowley Regis Satellite Education Hub has funding from the Towns Fund and will provide education and training facilities for young people and adults. Although just outside the current Centre boundary, immediately beyond LIDL and opposite Mary Macarthur Gardens on Lower High Street, it will add to the vitality and viability of Cradley Heath by promoting economic growth, rectifying skills shortages and contributing to a suitably skilled workforce. It will also strengthen the formation of a nascent growth hub centred around Cradley Heath interchange.

Opportunities for improvement

9.186 The Centres Study Health Check noted that frontages in the centre appear dated and tired-looking. Obtaining funding to upgrade frontages, the general streetscape and street scene improvements would all make the centre appear more welcoming, improve dwell times and reinforce the non-transactional interactions the centre needs to improve its vitality and viability and trade on its excellent connectivity.

9.187 The Centres Study suggested the southern town centre boundary be amended; that Lidl (Lower High Street) be added, the area of St Anne's Road removed due to a lack of any commercial units; and that the boundary should end at the post office on Cradley Road again due to a lack of occupied commercial units.

Proposals

9.188 The following table identifies locations that offer opportunities for future improvements and additions to the public realm and character of the area, as well as smaller-scale development opportunities.