Town revamp to begin next month

The transformation of West Bromwich town centre should get under way in earnest next month.

Supermarket giant Tesco has submitted a revised application for the £80 million regeneration scheme which will create 2,000 new jobs and includes a superstore, shops, restaurants and cafes, leisure facilities a petrol station and the remodelling of the Ringway.

The first stage of the project will involve relocating Cronehills Primary School from its 1925 building in Hardware Street to a new centre in Dagger Lane, where work is due to get started in June.

Pupils are expected to begin there in 18 months and then the existing building will be bulldozed and construction work on the main part of the project can be started. A new police station for the town will also be developed on a site at the Lyng.

It is anticipated that the Tesco store will open at the beginning of 2010.

The main store will cover 30,000 sq metres, a second store 8,400, shops will total 20,600, cafes and restaurants 2,100, leisure 3,780 and offices 3,385.

Outline planning permission for the massive redevelopment was granted in 2005. Revised application includes minor amendments in terms of highway arrangements and alterations to the road system in West Bromwich town centre.

Work started last week on demolishing the vacant B&Q store in New Street. A Tesco spokesman said: “The school and police station are the first pieces in the jigsaw.

“The demolition of the old school was controversial because there was an application to get it listed, but that was unsuccessful. The school is happy to be getting modern facilities.

“The specifications of the new police station are being finalised.

“It is a complex project, a big and extremely exciting one.”

Sandwell Council was given approval by the Government for compulsory purchase of the B&Q store, the town’s police station and Cronehills Junior School, so they can all be flattened to make way for the new development.