Park bonfire will be first for Wednesbury

A bonfire event will be held at a Black Country park for the first time, it has been announced.

Following growing demand from residents in the town, Sandwell Council will hold the event in Wednesbury on November 2.

The cash to fund the event will come from the authority and follows the borough's main bonfire and fireworks event at Dartmouth Park in West Bromwich.

Councillor Ian Jones, borough neighbourhoods chief, said: "The money will come out of funds that the council has.

"It is going to go ahead, the council is going to provide it and it will be on November 2. Local councillors asked the residents if they would like one and the answer was yes.

"It may be that other local town areas may want one as well."

Wednesbury North councillor Elaine Costigan, was delighted with the news.

She said: "Having the extra money we can now actually hold an event like this.

"There will be stalls and, hopefully, an ice rink if we can afford it.

"It is a first for Wednesbury. It is something we have wanted to do, but we looked at funding and couldn't afford it previously.

"Now we have got the money for the town it's wonderful." The news is a boost for the town, which will also benefit from a cash grant intended to revive certain areas in Sandwell.

The borough was granted a £100,000 pot of Government cash under the High Street Renewal Fund to breathe life into town centres.

The money is expected to be split evenly between the borough's six towns.

Towns are being encouraged to develop ideas of how to spend the £100,000 grant, which has come from the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Markets could be cleaned up, floral displays planted or street entertainment held to improve town centres and bosses are confident that the cash will bring in shoppers.

The award comes after West Bromwich and Bearwood both missed out on £100,000 bids under the Portas scheme.

Sandwell's neighbourhoods boss, Councillor Ian Jones, has said it is expected that each of the borough's six towns will receive around £15,000.