MP sees damage for £25m plans

Walsall South MP Bruce George was due to visit the Shannons Mill site this afternoon to see at first hand the devastation caused by the massive fire.

The four storey Victorian clothing mill, which was awarded listed building status in 2005, was due to be converted into offices, apartments and retail units as part of a three-pronged regeneration scheme for the market end of the town by Norton & Proffitt developments.

Mr George said today he was anxious to find out how the fire has affected what was an important development.

He said: "I couldn't believe it when I heard the news and I decided to travel up to see for myself exactly what has happened to this historic building.

"It is obviously a devastating blow and I am now keen to find out exactly what impact this will have on the development that was planned in the area."

Up to 500 jobs would have been created as part of the £25 million scheme, which was due to start in earnest in the next few weeks.

Land preparation work recently started on site and it was hoped some of the first apartments would go on sale in March 2008.

Speaking earlier this year Dominic Goold, a director of Norton & Proffitt, said: "We want to bring a high quality office development to the centre of Walsall and we believe this project will do just that."

Initially the intention had been to convert the mill into a designer shopping outlet but the plans were scrapped in 2005 because of a lack of interest from retailers and the revised scheme was put forward.

Conversion of the historic Shannons Mill was phase two of the St Matthews Quarter project.

Phase one, which was recently completed, included the building of the new 24 hour Asda which opened in June while plans for phase three were thought to include a cinema, bars and restaurant and more shops.