Former Wolverhampton Netto to be torn down

Summer Row has been a mess ever since its £300 million regeneration project dramatically collapsed in 2011.

But the council now wants to clear up the area and attract new investment, with shops, restaurants and housing in the pipeline.

The old Netto supermarket will be torn down in the coming months as part of the work, as will a former balti restaurant.

Cleveland Street and its surrounding roads will also be spruced up to make the area as attractive as possible before attempting to accrue big-money investments.

Regeneration boss Councillor Peter Bilson said: "It is a key area. When we came into control in December 2010 one of our first actions was to establish a regeneration fund for Southside.

"We first had to help some of the smaller businesses where we could. It takes time to move things forward and we're getting to that stage now."

In the short term, the former Panahar restaurant in Cleveland Street will be flattened to make way for parking, extending the Temple Street car park.

Netto, in Snow Hill, closed in 2009 and its demolition will take place in the next few months, with the free land then marketed to potential investors.

Councillor Bilson added: "It will encourage people to come forward.

"There could be a retail element, leisure, eating and residential.

"It will be a big boost for that part of the city."

The Summer Row project was more than six years in the making and set to be a showpiece shopping and leisure complex to rival Dudley's Merry Hill.

Covering Temple Street, Cleveland Street, Worcester Street and the southern end of Victoria Street, the 600,000 sq ft centre would have been anchored by Debenhams and Marks & Spencer as well as boasting restaurants and a bowling alley. Other major retailers including H&M, Jane Norman, Warehouse and Monsoon had all confirmed an interest in moving in.

But a funding deal for half the cash with a consortium of three Northern Irish businessmen collapsed in December 2008 and then developer Multi UK failed to find a new backer.

Wolverhampton's £300 million Summer Row shopping dream was today declared officially dead after a last-ditch attempt to salvage it was scrapped.

More than six years of work trying to get the showpiece complex off the ground is now in tatters. Council chiefs said the ambitious project to create a rival to the Merry Hill Centre was no longer viable, as the deadline for buying up 200 shops to make way for it loomed.

The decision comes two years after a funding deal for half the cash with a consortium of three Northern Irish businessmen collapsed in December 2008.

Developer Multi UK has since failed to find a new backer.

Summer Row would have meant the buying up of shops in Temple Street, Cleveland Street, Worcester Street and the southern end of Victoria Street and replacing it with a 600,000 sq ft shopping complex anchored by Debenhams and Marks & Spencer as well as boasting restaurants and a bowling alley.

Other major retailers including H&M, Jane Norman, Warehouse and Monsoon had all confirmed an interest in moving in.

Admitting defeat, Wolverhampton City Council today said around £50,000 of public money had been spent on consultants and legal advice in the past few months, with the rest of the costs underwritten by Multi.

Regeneration chief Councillor Peter Bilson said: "We tried to do everything in our power to salvage the scheme and our officers worked around the clock.

"Unfortunately the more we worked the more we concluded that the scheme was not viable. We cannot put public resources at risk."

The council had until February 11 to enforce compulsory purchase orders on shops and buildings before permission from the government expired.

Councillor Bilson added: "Enacting the CPOs and seeking another developer would also have been extremely risky."

He said all options for regenerating the Snow Hill area were now "on the table" and called for developers to come forward with any ideas, such as for offices.

Paul Sargent, managing director of Multi UK, said: "Naturally we are deeply disappointed at the council's decision after six years working on Summer Row, but we are sympathetic in the current economic climate of uncertainty."