The futuristic new £176 million railway station planned for Wolverhampton is set to become a step closer to reality this summer, it emerged today.

The ambitious interchange development will create thousands of new jobs and features a four-star 150-bedroom hotel, leisure and retail space including canal basin restaurants, cafes, bars, offices, new homes and public open space.

The station’s multi-storey car park would also be knocked down and replaced, doubling the number of spaces to 1,400.

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The futuristic new £176 million railway station planned for Wolverhampton is set to become a step closer to reality this summer, it emerged today.

The ambitious interchange development will create thousands of new jobs and features a four-star 150-bedroom hotel, leisure and retail space including canal basin restaurants, cafes, bars, offices, new homes and public open space.

The station’s multi-storey car park would also be knocked down and replaced, doubling the number of spaces to 1,400.

Council bosses travelled to the world’s premier property market conference in Mipim, France, to discuss the project with developers last week.

Regeneration chief Councillor Peter Bilson today said he was confident an eagerly-awaited planning application – committing all parties to the masterplan – would go ahead in July.

This would pave the way for work to begin as early as 2008.

“The conference gave us a chance to discuss specific developments regarding the interchange and how to move the project forward,” he said.

“We were also able to take technical advice from experts at the conference.

“We met with developers Neptune and both parties are happy with the way things are progressing.”

He added that councillors would be holding talks during the coming weeks to look at each proposal outlined in the development agreement.

Liverpool-based Neptune Developments was named last October as the authority’s preferred private sector partner for the huge project.

The company is aiming to start work on the rundown site in 2008/09, with a completion date targeted for some time between 2012 and 2013. Apart from equipping the city with a new main line railway terminal and bus station on the existing Pipers Row site, the project also envisages the total redevelopment of acres of adjoining land.

At its hub is the long-trailed public transport interchange, preliminary work on which has already been completed or is in the pipeline.