Town centre £500m plan can begin
Thursday 27th August 2009, 11:05AM BST.
The £500million regeneration of West Bromwich town centre can finally begin after Tesco won planning permission for its new store.
The supermarket chain is funding plans 10 years in the making for a police station, 70-bedroom hotel, shops, parking and public area in return for a Tesco Extra store.
Sandwell Council’s planning committee unanimously backed plans to create 2,000 jobs last night.
But planners warn there may be a final hurdle as surveys have not been done to see if bats, great crested newts or black redstarts – a bird that thrives in derelict buildings – will be endangered.
The move on the 37-acre £200million development will kickstart the area’s long-awaited regeneration worth a total of £500million. Centrepiece of the transformation will be a Tesco Extra supermarket with a floor-to-ceiling glass front.
Tesco spokeswoman Jane McFarland revealed phase one will begin in 2010 and open in autumn 2011 to West Bromwich to compete with Birmingham, Walsall and out of town shopping centres.
Developers have a list of high street favourites they would like to attract to the development, including Debenhams, Marks & Spencer and Primark.
People in Summerfield Avenue raised concerns about losing the Cronehills roundabout and feared they would not be adequately protected from traffic noise by a grass bank.
Tesco pledged to be a “good neighbour” and added roadworks on the West Bromwich Ringway would divert much of the traffic away from the residents.
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Wolves colours in west brom? haha, what were the dafties at the council playpen thinking this time? Can they ever do anything right. The architecture is poor too, it will age terribly. Another short sighted waste.
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i hope that this venture will not go the same way the public went i can forsee the cost doubling i can only hope that tesco are in charge of the finances because sand well council have not got a clue about running anything will this cost sandwell council taxpayers anything if so how much
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Sounds great to me & 2000 jobs will be just what the town wants, although I am unsure what Wolves colours have to do with this?
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1.. You have lost me what are you on about?????????
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Can’t believe there thinking of spending £500 million on a bus stop in sandwell
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Baggie Boy…perhaps Sam means the Gold and Black of the JCB’s that will be bull-dozing the area. Was that the improvement by the way? ;-)
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Wolves colours?
But Tesco do give away free Albion shirts with every purchase.
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Wow..another ‘showpiece’ in Sandwell – and right opposite the Public; could it possibly get any better? I wonder if the new police station will also follow the same route as the one in Tipton, or Oldbury. I think this move is nothing short of election propaganda, relying on depravation as it’s catalyst.
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“Centrepiece of the transformation will be a Tesco Extra supermarket with a floor-to-ceiling glass front.”
Wow, hasn’t Sandwell come far compared to the rest.
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Martacus Red, there are ‘plans’ to create 2,000 jobs, which basically means that if that doesn’t happen they can’t be held to account. And what type of jobs do you think will be on offer – decent jobs with prospects, or New Deal scams filling nameless posts, low-wage/long hour posts for a pittance, just to make the figures look good? My God, how low can this place go before it wakes up?
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Baggie Boy…The entrance is going to be painted orange and black.
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I don’t think this is going to transform West Bromwich. I’ve been there a few times over the years and I am sorry to say but it’s a dreadful place: dirty, uninviting..and those damn canvassers are a real menace to me. It’s not a very welcoming place IMO, and I am not a snob or trying to run this place down.
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John
Jobs are jobs in this day & age. I think people will have to be grateful what they can get & any job better than no job.
Industry gone, everytime a factory shuts in Tipton, they build houses on the land. So don’t expect any skilled jobs from industry any time soon.
What do you want people to wake up too? Reality!! or some rose tinted past.
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The £500million?????? Most of that will be needed just to remove the dirt and filth in the shopping area but don’t worry that money will soon be made up again with the parking fines and parking charges the borough is famous for.
I live in Bearwood, there are 12 empty shops in the high street thanks to the destruction of the shopping centre by the council about 5 years back, and the parking wardens can’t wait to ticket the motorists that choose to shop there, thus driving even more people away from Bearwood.
Jim of Bearwood
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“any job better than no job.”
I’m sure the Polish were probably spun the same story during World War II. I also recommend you read up on working poverty and it’s association with Sandwell. The more you accept what you are given (‘anything’), the more you allow yourself to be manipulated. No wonder Sandwell is so popular with certain industries.
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