Glass entrance to play part in shops revamp

A gleaming glass entrance will front West Bromwich High Street under ambitious £5 million transformation plans approved today.

The face of the Queens Square shopping centre is in line for a lift, with a new glass entrance and lorry area to provide a "signature entrance".

Planning chiefs in Sandwell have approved the scheme under delegated powers. The renovation work is intended to bring it in line with the ongoing £200 million Tesco development which is at the heart of the town.

The changes will see the windows of the centre's first floor blocked up, where Poundland stands currently, and includes taking out current entrance doors and building new glazed screens.

Officers at the authority's urban design department highlighted during the planning process the lack of lighting directed at the entrance, to showcase it to shoppers.

Planners however ruled the nature of the entrance would generate enough attention.

Case officer John Dadd said: "These proposals are part of a long-term improvement strategy for the town centre and although small in terms of the overall shopping centre, would bring significant improvement to the entrances of the shopping centre that could only benefit the centre as well as the town as a whole."

The new Queens Square atrium entrance will replace the canopy which currently stands in the middle of the High Street.

Permission has already been granted to pull down the steel structure.

The landmark red steel canopy is being removed as it has exacerbated a problem with pigeon infestation in West Bromwich town centre by providing perches and covered roosting spaces for feral pigeons.

Its removal is said to provide two main benefits – greater continuity of the market presence, and the removal of a health hazard as a pigeon roost.

Sandwell Council's jobs and economy chief, Ian Jones, welcomed planners' decision.