The Village pub, Moseley, to be closed and converted into living accommodation

A planning application has been submitted to convert the Village pub, Alcester Road, Moseley, into residential accommodation. A three storey building, containing 6 flats would also be built in part of the present car park.

The planning application number is 2011/00992/PA. The drawings for the planning application can be seen on-line by going to: http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/planningonline , click on ‘Access Planning Online’, click on ‘Application Number Search’ and search for application number 2011/00992/PA

My limited understanding on the history of this building is that it was originally a Gentlemen’s’ private club. It was more akin to the Gentlemen clubs in London, like the Carlton or Garrick club, which served the professional classes, as opposed to the modern gentlemen’s clubs which are thinly disguised strip clubs.

The Gentlemen’s Club closed in 1980 and was then converted in The Village pub.

From my perspective, I’m amazed that it has lasted so long as a pub. Being 100 metres outside the core of Moseley shopping centre, it has always struggled to attract the same high level of patronage as the other pubs in Moseley shopping centre.

Kings Heath Library re-opens to the public tomorrow (Saturday)

Kings Heath Library re-opens to the public tomorrow, Saturday 5^th March, at 9am.

The library closed to the public just before Christmas, due to health and safety concerns that the roof skylights could collapse into the library beneath during an heavy snowfall or high winds.

£75,000 has been spent installing permanent scaffolding to contain the skylights, if they were to unfortunately collapse. £300,000 is required to fully replace the skylights with exact replicas and the Council does not have this funding at this stage.

We have just received a quote for the cost to lay one layer of bitumen felt over the flat roof. This would stop the present leaks in the roof until money can be found to completely re-felt the roof, which would last for 25 years. A decision on the one layer felt will made in the next few weeks

Update on Moseley Road baths – 4^th March 2011

I attended a pre-contract meeting this morning to discuss the forthcoming work on Moseley Road baths. The objective of the works is to replace the lintel on the fire exit of Pool 2, which will allow the pool to re-open to the public.

Background to the pools temporary closure can be read at http://martinmullaney.blogspot.com/2011/01/update-on-moseley-road-baths-14-th.html

The outcome of this mornings meeting is that the contractors will move onto the site on Monday 21^st March. The work will take between 6 to 9 weeks depending on the complexity of the issues discovered when the current rotten lintel is removed. So at worst, the pool will re-open to public around 23^rd May.

The first three weeks of the works will involve constructing a steel frame to hold up the gable wall when the present rotten lintel is removed.

There was some discussion today as to the design of the lintel. If we maintain the current width of the fire exit door, then a stainless steel lintel will be constructed; can I apologise to the resident who e-mailed me about the possibility of a stainless steel lintel and my response was that they don’t exist. As I found out today, such things do exist.

Another option for the lintel is to reduce the width of the fire exit door, by bricking up about a quarter of it. This would allow the pillar from the roof, that rests on the lintel, to instead reach the floor by brick – as it would have done when the baths were built. Removing the downward force of the pillar from lintel, will allow a cheaper a concrete lintel to be used instead of a stainless steel lintel.

A decision of what type of lintel to use will be made when the present rotten lintel is removed.

In the meantime, we are pursuing the issue of lack of ventilation inside pool 2, which in turn is causing wet rot to form on the wooden timber roof. The pool has two mechanical fans which are rarely turned on, since their bearings are worn and create a screeching racket when turned on. We are aiming to get the bearings replaced in the coming weeks.

Meteor Ford planning application approved by Chairs casting vote

The planning application for the former Meteor Ford site at the corner of Oxford Road and St Marys Row was voted through today by the Chair’s casting vote, after the Committee vote 7 for, 7 against.

The planning application was previously considered by the Committee on 10^th February where the Committee voted 7-6 in favour of ‘deferring the decision minded to refuse’. In plain English this was informing the Planning Officers to come back with another report providing legal reasons to refuse the planning application.

The planning officers did come back today with a report re-iterating why the Committee should approve the application.

The voting went:

Against the application: 4 Lib Dem and 3 Labour

For the application: 1 Labour and 6 Conservative

1 Labour Councillor was absent

This left the voting 7:7, which allowed the Chair to make the final casting vote. He voted for the application.