Compulsory purchase plans for Wolverhampton's iconic Beatties store backed by council

The former department store in Victoria Street, one of the Wolverhampton’s most recognisable buildings, has been empty since 2019 after the collapse of House of Fraser. It has since been left to ruin.

City of Wolverhampton’s cabinet approved in principle to ‘last resort’ compulsory purchase order plans to speed-up its redevelopment at a meeting on Wednesday (March 18).

The council granted planning permission in 2021 for the redevelopment of parts of the former store and car park into more than 300 flats and 73,000 square feet of commercial floor space but said its current owner Eden Beatties had failed to deliver the scheme and left the building to rot.

Cllr Chris Burden, the council’s cabinet member for city development, jobs and skills, said the “absolute and clear preference” was for the site to be redeveloped saying it was an “iconic building” and was the “heart and soul of the city.”

“That’s what we want, that’s what the people of this city want and what they deserve,” he said.

“There is no regeneration of Wolverhampton without the regeneration of this building … I want to assure residents, in no uncertain terms, that to this point, the extent of the powers of this council have been used at every single stage.”

He said the council was as frustrated as the public over the state of the building and was using its compulsory purchase powers “at the earliest opportunity.”

Cllr Burden said the CPO was a “serious but measured and proportionate step” that would “strengthen the council’s ability to bring forward one of the most important regeneration sites in the city centre.”

The regeneration of the building would provide ‘vital new housing, commercial opportunities, the restoration of a heritage asset and act as a catalyst for regeneration in the area’ as well as address long-standing issues such as anti-social behaviour, dilapidation and a blight on the surrounding area, he added.

The building was bought by Eden Property Group for around £6.15m in 2024 but the lack of activity at the site had seen the council’s patience run thin.

The owner Eden Beatties had stripped out the building and demolished some of its structures but had now left it in “poor condition.”

The council had met with the owners of the former department store and “expressed in no uncertain terms that the current state of the building was totally unacceptable.”

As a result, City of Wolverhampton Council said it was preparing to take legal action with its ‘vacant properties taskforce’ also taking steps after the building’s owners ignored an enforcement notice to tidy the run-down site.

Council leader Stephen Simkins said he, like the rest of the city, was “deeply frustrated” by the state of the former department store and blamed “policy and process” for the delays that prevented the council from taking meaningful action.

Cllr Simkins, who revealed his aspirations for the building to be listed, said: “We cannot afford to have buildings of such an iconic stature be derelict and closed for so many years. It’s deeply frustrating for everybody.

“No-one wants to see that building run into the ground that it has been but we have limited powers. People need to understand that if we had our wish, we would have done this some time back.

“But we have give opportunity to the owners, we have give opportunity to the developers and we have got to the stage now where we have no other option.

“Hopefully we can come to an agreement with the existing owners to get this developed.

Cllr Steve Evans, cabinet member for housing, added: “We can’t just step in and do what we like. Somebody has bought that building and sadly although this council enabled them to develop that building, they haven’t done anything with it.

“It has fallen into disrepair, it’s in a prime location, [and was] almost the original heartbeat, if not a magnet puller, for the city centre.”

Cllr Evans said it was “unfair and morally wrong” for the building to remain empty and looked forward to it being redeveloped and “used for the right reasons.”