A crisis-hit Black Country arts centre has been dealt another blow after a college lined up to take over a floor of the four storey building pulled out.

Sandwell Council had hoped that Sandwell College could occupy a large part of the Public in West Bromwich after hiring consultants to come up with ideas to fill the struggling pink and purple venue.

But college boses have said they are no longer interested and the council is now back to square one. The authority is now in the process of appointing new consultants to “identify target users appropriate to the original vision of the Public”.

The news is a major blow for the main fundholders – The Arts Council of England, Advantage West Midlands and Sandwell Council – who had hoped the college would take a major part of the building.

Read the full story in the Express & StarA crisis-hit Black Country arts centre has been dealt another blow after a college lined up to take over a floor of the four storey building pulled out.

Sandwell Council had hoped that Sandwell College could occupy a large part of the Public in West Bromwich after hiring consultants to come up with ideas to fill the struggling pink and purple venue.

But college boses have said they are no longer interested and the council is now back to square one. The authority is now in the process of appointing new consultants to “identify target users appropriate to the original vision of the Public”.

The news is a major blow for the main fundholders – The Arts Council of England, Advantage West Midlands and Sandwell Council – who had hoped the college would take a major part of the building.

Sandwell regeneration chief Bob Badham said the college had decided on a purpose-built educational environment.

He said they were now in the process of appointing new specialist consultants “to identify target users appropriate to the original vision of the Public”.

Tory leader Tony Ward said: “Quite frankly the whole thing is a fiasco and a very costly one at that.”