Work on a £10 million pound town centre development that will link two popular tourist attractions will start within weeks, it was announced today.

Ground work will begin in the new year on the project across 494 acres of land around the Castle Hill area of Dudley.

The project will see a joint access created to Dudley Zoo, the Black Country Living Museum and Dudley Canal Trust from Tipton Road, and also a new arrival centre built, among a number of other projects.

A road will first be created to link the museum and zoo.

Dudley regeneration chief, councillor Angus Adams, said today: “Building is likely to start over the next few weeks.

“We will do some work this week to clear the site and make it ready for building work to begin.”

The plans to link Dudley Zoo and the Black Country Living Museum have been in the pipeline for years but were held back by nearby roadworks at the Burnt Tree junction and the new Tesco.

Since £4.5m European funding was agreed, plans are being drawn up to start work on the link road.

The road will run from near the former Trading Post premises in Castle Hill to the back of the museum in nearby Tipton Road.

It will also provide access to Dudley Canal Trust at the back of the museum.

The scheme also includes a large car park which would be shared by the attractions.

The £10m scheme will see the creation of a new hotel and shopping precinct on vacant land next to the proposed site of the new Dudley Archives building.

It is hoped the project will pave the way for dozens of new businesses and turn the district into a tourism and leisure hub.

The foundation of this hub will be created with the building of a shared arrival point and car park for visitors to the three attractions.

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