A COUNCILLOR has called for action to make safe a derelict factory building in Lye that has been wrecked by fire and become a blot on the landscape.

Councillor Richard Body has urged Dudley Council to condemn what he has branded a “burnt out slum factory” located on Pearson Street, Crabbe Street and Careless Green.

The old Springfield Holloware works has been left severely damaged after a huge blaze on January 21.

Cllr Body said: “Now the roof and upper floor beams are no longer supporting the external walls facing Wollescote Primary School, and Pearson Street, there is a real risk to life.”

He said if the wall was to give way or loose building materials fell away it could be catastrophic and he added: “The residents of Pearson Street do not deserve to have to put up with the disgusting mess left behind from the fire.

“They have had to live with a dilapidated slum factory since the 1980s, now the factory is just a burnt ruin.”

Cllr Body, Labour councillor for Cradley and Wollescote, has urged Tory Dudley Council to use its powers to force the owner of the building to demolish what is left of it.

He added: “The risk of a storm bringing down tonnes of rubble onto a residential street or narrow road with a primary school is real.”

Councillor Patrick Harley, leader of the council, said the authority has written to the owners of the building asking whether they plan to demolish and rebuild or redevelop the site.

He added: “Within that letter is a request to make the building safe in the meantime while it remains empty and out of use.

“We will continue to monitor the state of the building and will not hesitate to take enforcement action ourselves through the courts if the owners are not forthcoming with their plans.”