Slade Road, Royal-sutton-coldfield

Slade Road follows a valley corridor documented as Erdington Slade since at least 1848. The 1904 council school and the Grade II listed 1869 workhouse block at Highcroft, now converted to homes, still anchor its institutional spine.

Incidents on Slade Road have ranged from a 2012 carjacking of a young mother to a 2021 bag grab by an offender already on bail. Police still log antisocial behaviour linked to drug use, street drinking and prostitution as an active priority.

In 1995 a minaret and new ablution area were approved at 232 Slade Road, now the 300-capacity Ghausia Mosque. A 32-bed acute mental health unit was approved at Highcroft in 2026, while the former Brookvale pub site gained permission for four homes in 2019.

The 1834 Ordnance Survey shows Hawthorn Brook flowing past Witton Slade to power a forge at Lower Witton pool, the same water body that became Brookvale Park's lake when it opened as Erdington's first park in 1909. The M6 now cuts the area off so completely that one road, the A4040, is its only direct link south to Aston.

In 1973 Stockland Green School pupils travelled to London to sing on Wizzard's chart hit, reaching number four that Christmas. After the 1911 amalgamation with Birmingham, Slade Road grew into a shopping street where Ashok Supermarket traded for 47 years before its owners retired.