More than 100 new homes on former lock making site

More than a hundred houses are to be built on the site of former lock-making factories.

The project in Willenhall will form the first phase of a town master plan, which will see sites on Temple Bar, Moat Street, Cemetery Road, Villiers Street and New Hall Street converted into 109 homes.

Work to demolish the vacant and crumbling factories started earlier this year after becoming a hot spot for arson and antisocial behaviour.

Up to a quarter of the properties will be classed as affordable housing and Walsall Council said £20m of Levelling Up funding secured in 2023 will fund their construction.

Five brownfield sites will be used after the authority’s planning committee approved the plans.

The area was once a thriving hub for the town’s lock-making industry but the vacant factories fell into dereliction.

An outline planning application for the homes was approved back in 2024 and planning committee members approved the full planning application on Thursday.