Boost for £176m Bilston Urban Village development
The first housebuilder has signed up to the £176 million Bilston Urban Village development.
Kier will build 78 new homes on land off Carder Crescent and are due to submit a planning application outlining the scheme next month.
The news comes as work to prepare the land for 500 homes continues to gain pace.
Once completed the site, located to the south of the Bert Williams leisure centre and Black Country Route, will include extensive areas of open space, footpaths and a water feature
And new food and drink outlets are set to be built opposite the leisure centre on Nettlefolds Way as part of plans to regenerate the town and Wolverhampton as a whole.
The housing development forms part of the wider urban village project, which will also see a new pedestrian link created to link the town centre together with the new residential area.
Buckingham Group senior project manager Laurence Bonner said work was progressing well at the development.
"Tree clearance has been done and breaking out the concrete slabs and reprocessing the materials.
"We have started the final levelling and this and all the moving of the earth will take until October."
He added the 25-strong team were also carrying out works to fill in the mineworks, installing drainage and new roads.
The men are seen walking over land on the Carder Crescent reclamation site with the planner appealing for suggestions from members of the public as to how the site could be regenerated.
He even suggests coloured smoke from the factory chimneys and covering eyesores with tin foil to brighten them up.
Wolverhampton City Council regeneration officer Simon Lucas said there was a difference between plans for the site then compared to now.
"There's a difference - a lot of the issues in 1975 seemed to be how to improve the look of a lot of those factories that were around at the time.
"All of those are now gone. We are now looking at trying to make this land productive whereas back in 1975 they were looking at cosmetic uses.
"The purpose of what we are doing now is to take away some of the risk and cost to future developers so hopefully they can move on fairly quickly and start building."
Wolverhampton City Council and the Homes and Communities Agency are investing £7.5 million towards the Urban Village, with private investment making up the rest of the cash.
Councillor Peter Bilson, city assets boss, said: "It is great to see advanced works underway on the Bilston Urban Village project.
"The scheme is moving forward at a good pace and the prospect of Kier starting work in January is hugely encouraging to people and businesses in the area.
"The urban village will be a key part of the wider regeneration of the city, bringing new homes, new jobs and more investment. It demonstrates our commitment to Bilston and ensures it will continue to be a thriving area."
Demolition of derelict buildings on Bilston High Street is finished, enabling further new developments. and the completion of a pedestrian link from the town centre to the Bert Williams leisure centre and other new facilities.
The £2.5 million pedestrian link will be surrounded by a temporary landscaped open space just off the High Street, although development plans for this area have yet to be finalised.
