A small salvage business in Stirchley to the southwest of Birmingham has just been demolished to make way for another Tesco. It is not certain whether the Tesco will go ahead. Apparently various community organisations were relocated by the developers but not, it would seem, the reclamation yard.
 
It was located on Pershore Road, and can possibly be seen in the old satellite image shown above. In its short life this one eluded a placement on the Salvo Directory, but if anyone with knowledge of its current whereabouts could let us know where the Reclamation Yard is now, please let us know.
 
Jasbir Authi in the Birmingham Mail wrote that an eyesore community centre, Stirchley United Working Men's Club and a reclamation yard are being demolished and building work is expected to start in the late summer. A Tesco spokesman said: "We're currently carrying our preparatory works in Stirchley, ahead of starting to build a store for the local community later this year." Local councillor Timothy Huxtable praised the work but urged the shopping giant to come to a decision about two other empty sites they own in the ward. Coun Huxtable (Con) said: "I'm very pleased that they have started work. We are looking forward to the store which will give people in Stirchley more choice and the jobs which are going to be created on the site. What I'm still urging Tesco to do is come to a decision about the sites they own but aren't going to use. One is the former Kwik Save site and the other one is a piece of land at the junction of Hunts Road and Pershore Road. I urge Tesco to do something with the sites as part of a wider regeneration of Stirchley. They could enhance or regenerate them or they could sell it on in order for someone to invest in them." The store is a major milestone for the town centre regeneration scheme which has been debated for the last 15 years. For much of that time Tesco was locked in legal battles over a rival Co-op development plan. There were also lengthy disputes over land sales.
 
It would seem that Tesco has other land it could have offered to the Reclamation Yard, but it is not known whether that happened. A vital plank in the EU and UK government's plan to turn Europe into a reuse and recycling society was lost.
 
Spiralson in the Stirchley online forum wrote:
Why is it that the reclamation yard is having to move out because of the redevelopment project?
 
Considering that one of the aims of this whole excercise is to support business in stirchley I find it baffling that a very valuable business is being 'landscaped' out of the area. The presence of the reclamation yard ticks many important boxes:
-a unique local business,
-encourages environmental sustainability by selling reclaimed materials,
-there aren't many reclamation yards in Birmingham so therefore brings customers into Stirchley,
 
I'm all for having more green and landscaped areas in Stirchley, but to me it makes more sense to use one of the many derelict sites in Stirchley rather than turf out an existing business.
It seems to us that small and large salvage yards have been closing every week for the past twenty years. A few new starter businesses do manage to find premises to start up, such as this one, stockholding durable reclaimed building materials and demolition salvage which embody high amounts of energy and therefore reduce global warming when reused and save more resources.
 
It seems urban developments no longer prioritise reuse ....