Goodyear site reduced to rubble

It was once home to more around 7,000 workers – but today Wolverhampton's historic Goodyear site is just a shell as it prepares for the demolition of its famous blue chimney.

The Express & Star's exclusive pictures show the Stafford Road plant largely reduced to rubble to make way for a huge development.

For more photos click Goodyear site demolished - pictures

Demolition work is due to be complete by June or July, with the iconic chimney due to disappear from the skyline as part of the £150 million project.

Soon the majority of the site will be just another housing estate, as more than 600 new homes are created.

Bob Simpson, associate director from supervising firm Wakemans, said: "It's going really well, we are expecting the demolition work to be complete in either June or July, half of it has been done already and we are on target.

"The blue chimney will be one of the last things to go on the site. We haven't got a definite date for the demolition, but we anticipate that it will go around about June before the remediation work starts."

Under the exciting plans the Goodyear sports and social club, which is 70 years old, will be retained while the development will also include new shops, a park and a replacement for Oxley Primary School. The company still has a presence on the site with a retred unit which employs around 450 workers.

It was decided the blue chimney would have to go after the city council took expert advice and heard it would be too expensive to maintain alongside the new homes.

The other option was to keep the 150ft tall chimney but make residents living in homes on the site pay for its maintenance, a plan which was considered unrealistic.

But one significant piece of heritage on the site will be retained, a clock tower created back in the 1930s.

Birmingham-based St Modwen is the firm behind the work, which is happening alongside the busy A449 Stafford Road in Fordhouses.

Commuters travelling along the road have seen landmarks behind the site's blue fence gradually disappear, but today's pictures chronicle for the first time the extent of the work to clear the site.

Old industrial buildings which have stood in the city for decades have been pulled down to make way for more the new homes, with the site now looking unrecognisable from the years gone by.

The project promises to be one of the longest running developments the city has ever seen, with the first phase of homes on the site not expected to be created until the end of next year.

Peter Rudd, from St Modwen, said: "It's a big project and once the demolition work is done, we will be able to start laying down some of the hugely important infrastructure that will go with it.

"That means things like drains for the properties and an access road. We anticipate the very first house to go up on the site will be either very late in 2009 or very early in 2010.

"The plan is to sell off bits of land to the right house builders bit-by-bit until the whole thing is complete, so rather than complete the whole thing is one go it will be done in stages."

In its prime, the Goodyear factory was the spine of Wolverhampton's economy, employing thousands directly and in supporting industries. It was also at the centre of the town's leisure time and its social club remains an active and thriving reminder of those times.

The company produced a special edition of its glossy magazine in 1929 to celebrate the plant producing its one millionth tyre – a milestone reached just over 27 years after opening.

Goodyear bosses proclaimed then that workers had "nothing to fear" for the future and then Mayor of Wolverhampton AE Wood assisted with the process and told workers how Wolverhampton had managed to attract the American giant to the town.

He said he had been able to offer power as cheap as anywhere in the United Kingdom and a square deal, which the tyre giant took despite offers from elsewhere of free water and electricity.

The mayor had done his homework and knew that the company prized "man-power" on an equal footing with money, machinery, materials and management.

And it was hardworking, honest men that Wolverhampton had plenty to offer.

When Wolverhampton produced its millionth tyre the parent company was keen to remind workers in the town just how important they were.

In the magazine, The Wingfoot Clan, bosses said: "The triumph of the child brings honour to the father. There is indeed a thrill in belonging to this vast organisation with its factories and mills in every part of the globe, every one of them alive to what we are doing as though we were close neighbours.

"The darkest days are over and the millionth tyre has been built in the dawning of clearer light and understanding.

"The Goodyear spirit, fostered so well by the pioneers who have helped us to build a million tyres, is coming into its own and we have no fear for the future."

Then, the plant was so influential that the Stafford Road was known as Goodyear Road. And the influence of Goodyear remained strong until recent years, with the company's name and logo emblazoned on Wolves shirts.

Within five years, the Goodyear site will provide accommodation for an estimated 2,000 people and it is hoped that it will go towards easing high demand for property close to Stafford Road, a key route into the city.

More than 12 acres of parkland on the 88 acre site is being set aside to replace facilities for Oxley Primary School, while another 47 acres will be covered by new homes.

Experts believe the site has the potential to provide even more redevelopment – it has been included in a special 'joint core strategy' produced by Wolverhampton City Council and three other local authorities as one of the patches of land with the most potential in the region.

That means the authority will be taking a keen overview of the site in future years and will consider if any further development can take place to get the most out of it.

Councillor Peter Bilson, deputy leader and cabinet member for regeneration, said: "It's a hugely important site, there's no doubt about it. It will provide the provision for new homes, new open space and the maintaining of the social club among other benefits, as well as Goodyear still having a presence on the site, albeit a reduced one.

"One of the things we were keen to see with this scheme was a commitment on behalf of Goodyear to still have a presence on the site and that has been secured for 10 years.

"The development will take place with a long term view in mind and that is what makes this so important.

"Some of the homes will also be affordably priced to meet those needs.

"In one sense the big chimney is a real landmark, but I wouldn't want to be living right under something like that and I don't think many other people would either."

By Tom Edwards