First look at city's £15m Hilton hotel

This is the first image of the striking £15 million Hilton hotel being lined up as the newest landmark for one of the Black Country' busiest routes.

Plans for the curved 133-bedroom development to replace the rundown Fox Hotel alongside Wolverhampton's Penn Road island have now been lodged with the city council.

Today it emerged around 48 jobs - four full-time and up to 44 part time - will be created if the proposals are given the go ahead.

A ground floor restaurant and shop space are also included in the project, which it is hoped will kickstart the multi-million pound regeneration of the city's western gateway.

The hotel will be marketed as a Hampton by Hilton hotel, a major brand of Hilton Worldwide that has 1,800 hotels in the US and is rolling out a UK chain.

Planning permission is now being sought by Stourbridge-based Cordwell Leisure Developments to demolish the 1970s built Fox Hotel and replace it.

A report coming before city planning chiefs says the new seven-storey hotel would be a focal point on one of the main routes into the city.

It says: "The site has the potential to create a landmark to the gateway from the Penn Road."

It is hoped a decision on planning permission will be made in November.