A HISTORIC Cradley home which used to belong to man credited with bringing chain making to the Black Country is set to be demolished.
Plans by developers to knock down Hatherton Lodge – once the home of Victorian industrialist Noah Hingley and his son Sir Benjamin Hingley – and build seven new houses in its place have been passed by Dudley Council’s planning committee.
Cornbow Properties submitted the application to demolish the lodge and replace it with two three-storey and five two-storey houses.
Committee members voted in favour of the building being demolished despite 97 objections raised by campaigners, who insisted the building should be preserved due to its historic importance – as Mr Hingley’s Netherton ironworks ‘N. Hingley & Sons’ made the anchor for the Titanic.
There had also been objections made to the council by The Victorian Society and Save Britain’s Heritage.
The Goodman family, owners of Cornbow Properties, said in a statement that the lodge was in “too poor a condition to be able to save” and that “every avenue was explored” in bringing the building back into use.
A structural survey the developers had carried out in 2016 said the grand Drews Holloway property had fallen into a state of disrepair.
The survey claimed work to save the house would cost close to £750,000 due to it suffering from “serious structural issues and mining subsidence”.
Before the decision was made, Cradley councillor Richard Body believed little could be done to save the home unless a local entrepreneur bought the site from the Goodman family.
He added: “A lot of money is needed to turn it around from the state it’s in and I wish the council had the money to do something, but unfortunately we don’t.
“It’s a shame there is not a charity or trust that could take it on.”
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