BLACK PATCH BRIGHT SPOT

27-02-2007

We can't be certain, but it looks as though Black Patch Park in Smethwick could be saved following a campaign by local activists - and supported by The Stirrer.

Rumours abound that Cllr Bob Badham, Sandwell Cabinet member and on the board of local development agency Regenco has had a major change of heart about this historic playing field on the borders between Brum and the Black Country.

Black Patch been long threatened with decommissioning; it's in a zone earmarked for industrial development - never mind the acres of derelict factories in the surrounding area. But now it seems this influential local politician has changed tack.

Badham has said, informally, but in the hearing of one of the Friends of Black Patch Park, that the park will be saved and restored to life. The Friends - once referred to as the “troublemakers” in a quarter not a million miles from the councillor in question - are contemplating a small celebration at the Soho Foundry Pub (venue of their regular meetings over the years) to mark this sea change.

A wider celebration will surely follow if the public get confirmation of that Black Patch Park is to be treated as the focal point of a revised plan for the regeneration of the whole Soho Foundry area of Smethwick.

What a great piece of news.

Rest assured that you'll get confirmation here first on the Stirrer.

To see pictures by local residents of Black Patch click here.

And to see our last report, click here.