Major plans to tear down Dudley's 'dated' bus station backed by council chiefs
Major plans to tear down Dudley's bus station and replace it with a £24 million transport interchange are set to go ahead after the decision was backed by chiefs.
Dudley bus station – understood to be the second busiest in the region pre-Covid – will make way for a new building to link bus and upcoming metro services.
The current station, described as being in a "poor condition" with "dated" shelters, is the oldest bus station in the West Midlands – having been built in 1986.
It will be torn down alongside other nearby buildings including the partly vacant Farmfoods site under plans submitted by the West Midlands Combined Authority.
At a meeting of Dudley Council's planning committee tonight, councillors agreed to back the move which will provide a major boost to connectivity in the town.
The interchange will link with the Wednesbury to Brierley Hill metro extension, due to be finished at the end of 2023, which runs through Dudley town centre.
The facility will boast comfortable waiting areas, real-time travel information, cycle parking facilities, retail units and a “seamless link” between services.
Deputy Mayor Andrea Goddard said: “It has been a long-time coming, I think it’s fantastic.”
Meanwhile a new car park would be built nearby on the site of a former photographic studio on Birmingham Street and its warehouse at the rear of Bourne Street, which will also be knocked down.
The current bus station has 19 covered bus stands and is served by 22 routes on a standard weekday, but is due to make way for a “roughly triangular building” with a split level – one to access the metro and another for buses.
Meanwhile road improvements will be made around Trindle Road and St Joseph Street while the way buses use the development will be altered.
Transport for West Midlands, part of the West Midlands Combined Authority, is leading on the interchange project in partnership with Dudley Council. The majority of the funding is coming from the region’s Transforming Cities Fund allocation, topped up with contributions from the council and WMCA.
Outline planning permission for the scheme was granted in 2019, with the full planning application set to be decided at a meeting on September 12.
