What do you think of the Local Economy?  

Icons open for business

Norton Canes has a thriving local economy and it is a priority for us to support local businesses.
This can be through improvements, development opportunities in business parks and industrial estates and giving local people access to employment.

The District Council has the strategic role of identifying sufficient land to support jobs growth during the extended period of the Local Plan to 2038. The need to expand Kingswood Lakes Business Park had previously been identified.

We conducted a survey of businesses on the industrial estates/business parks within the village i.e., Walsall Road, Norton Green Lane, Conduit Road, Bettys Lane. It was also delivered to part of the Watling Street Business Park.

The response rate was low (less than five per cent) and we now need to increase engagement with local businesses.

The majority of responses were from small and medium sized enterprises and this type of business could be considered a strength of Norton Canes to be built on.

The responses raised the following issues:

  • A small number of village residents are actually employed in the village.
  • There is not a lot of engagement between schools and businesses.
  • Poor bus service is an issue for employees travelling to Norton Canes.
  • There is a lack of food outlets for employees.
  • Most ‘business to customer’ small businesses felt the need to increase their visibility for local passing trade.
  • Some businesses expressed a desire for networking meetings.
  • Some small businesses would like the opportunity to expand within the area.

We would like to check and address all of these.

The map below identifies all the employment sites being promoted in the parish by landowners and developers on the District Council’s Employment Land Availability Assessment (ELAA). It also shows the District Council’s preferred employment sites from its recently published Preferred Options document.

Potential Housing Sites Map

The District is proposing to allocate two new Green Belt sites, E12 land at Streetway Farm north of the A5 and east of Churchbridge (Preferred Options site E12 on the map) together with E10 land between the Turf pub/restaurant and the M6Toll (Preferred Options site E10 on the map). If you want to see the District’s Policies Map which accompanies their Preferred Options document follow this link.

Norton Canes has some natural advantages for employment land development, such as, proximity to the A5 and M6 Toll and the proposed link up with the M54; the established strategic employment site at Kingswood Lakes; ready access to the newly proposed distribution hub at Featherstone.

Employment growth within the Parish should be welcomed.

One major past local employer Durapipe has moved out of the village and the former large premises on the west side of Walsall Road is currently vacant.

We believe priority should be given to conversion of the existing buildings to provide new space for small and medium sized businesses.

The proposals for heritage-led regeneration of the former Grove Colliery site covered in the Heritage section will also potentially provide new employment opportunities.

Here are some of our suggestions for policies, which we would invite residents to consider:

  • Support extensions to the strategic Kingswood employment site ( not currently being proposed by the District ) but not on any areas currently used for open space purposes
  • Support some extension to the Watling Street business park located on the south side of the A5. (again not currently being proposed by the District ).
  • Support the creation of a roadside uses/leisure services hub on the site between the Turf Inn and the M6 Toll. The aim being to use the attraction of the A5/Walsall Road junction to provide a range of roadside outlets which are accessible to the village without crossing the A5 (Preferred Options site E10 on the map).
  • Not to support the expansion of the Lime Lane business area (ELAA sites NE6 and part of CE20 on the map). The service and artisan business area between Lime Lane and the canal has a specific history related to its location and should not be expanded.
  • Not to support general employment development on the site of the former Cathedral Pit south of the A5 (ELAA site NE10 on the map). The site is set back from the A5 and fronted by sites designated as being of biological interest. One of the existing buildings is a heritage asset dating from the mid19th century. So the site needs a specialist use sympathetic to the location.
  • Any development of the Green Belt for employment purposes should be accompanied by appropriate financial or practical contributions to deliver net environmental gain and/or other benefits to the local community. These ‘Asks’ will be consulted on with local people.
  • Support the conversion/sub-division of existing vacant industrial buildings to provide space for small businesses to start up or expand.
  • Support opportunities for new employment in connection with the Heritage led regeneration of the former Grove Colliery.