New date sought on station

Work on a new police station as part of a £200 million regeneration of West Bromwich could start up to two years later than planned, the Express & Star can reveal.

Building work on the new £7m force base had been expected to start before the end of last year, but has been held up by "legal issues."

Now planners behind the Tesco-led scheme have applied for an extension to the planning permission to add a new deadline for work to start by October 2011 – although bosses insist they are still confident of work starting this year.

As part of of the original planning permission for the new police base granted in 2004, developers were told work would have to start within five years.

But Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners, working on behalf of Tesco, has now applied to Sandwell Council planners to replace that planning permission with new paperwork giving them another 17 months to begin work.

The existing police station in New Street will be bulldozed to make way for the Tesco Extra redevelopment, with the new base planned for the corner of Moor Street and Bowater Street.

But Tesco corporate affairs manager Tony Fletcher today insisted the plan is to start work on the new police station this year.