Sandwell Council has officially removed previous opening hour restrictions on a shipping container storage facility in Tividale, permitting it to operate 24 hours a day permanently.
Located opposite the Diamond Bus depot on Tipton Road in Oldbury, the facility houses over 50 shipping containers. It initially opened last year under a temporary two-year planning permission that limited its hours after earlier proposals for round-the-clock operations were denied.
The recent application, submitted by Simon Dunn of Oldbury-based bus operator Rotala, sought to make the facility’s 24-hour status permanent. After careful review, the council has now granted this request.
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Previously, the site was restricted to operating between 7am and 7pm on weekdays, with limited hours on weekends. Following noise assessments conducted over several weeks, the applicant demonstrated that the facility produces minimal noise. The report noted that the site’s operational noise levels are low compared to other sources in the area.
“In our experience managing similar sites, nighttime activity is rare, and general use occurs between 8am and 6pm,” the application stated. “Extending the operating hours is projected to have only a minor impact on nearby residents.”
The land, which includes a former NHS laboratory and office complex on the corner of Tipton Road and John’s Lane, had been vacant for nearly ten years before this development. Known previously as SGS House, the facility was a pharmaceutical testing and NHS laboratory site until its closure in 2008. Most NHS offices were demolished in 2020, and part of the area had recently served as a car park for the Diamond bus company before the storage facility was established.