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Official Black Country Development Thread 2

193K views 964 replies 46 participants last post by  DBadger 
#1 ·
... where we left off....
 
#221 ·
Wolverhampton Midland Metro extension set to begin in two years

A £30 million Midland Metro extension in Wolverhampton is planned to get under way between 2015 and 2019.

And a £90 million second line from Wednesbury to Dudley is also on a wish list drawn up by transport bosses, who want to split up the long-awaited link between Wednesbury and Brierley Hill.

But hopes of re-opening a rail link between Wolverhampton and Walsall are effectively shelved until at least 2019, it has emerged.

The Wolverhampton Metro loop is second on a list of the priorities drawn up by transport authority Centro but is entirely dependent on getting funding in “challenging” circumstances.

The Black Country has £27.6m for transport schemes coming from the Government between 2015 and 2018 while Birmingham will get £35.8m.
You can read the full story here:

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/...nd-metro-extension-set-to-begin-in-two-years/
 
#223 ·
Wolverhampton ring road closure on way to allow repair of panels

A section of Wolverhampton’s ring road will be shut for five nights to repair glass panels destroyed in seconds of mindless vandalism. The panels were individually made as part of a £1.8 million footbridge installed as part of the city’s £22.5m bus station development in 2011.

But thugs destroyed two of the panels last August and they have yet to be replaced because the glass has to be made to order.

Another was smashed in January. The footbridge was built alongside the existing car and pedestrian bridge in Railway Drive that leads to Wolverhampton rail station.

Eventually the old bridge will become used only by cars and trams if a £30 million extension of the Midland Metro in Wolverhampton city centre goes ahead.

The ring road from Broad Street to Bilston Island will be closed in both directions, for five nights from Monday, April 22 to Friday, april 26 between 7pm and 6am for the footbridge glass to be repaired.

Councillor Peter Bilson, Wolverhampton City Council’s deputy leader said: “We need to close the ring road as we cannot risk debris falling onto passing traffic below.”
http://www.expressandstar.com/news/...oad-closure-on-way-to-allow-repair-of-panels/

Glad this is finally being sorted! Such a shame that Wolverhampton finally gets something that looks nice, only for it to get destroyed!

I'm fully expecting to see the usual comments on the E&S site like "only Wolverhampton would build a bridge next to another bridge".. "what a waste of money, they should be spending money on xxxx..."
 
#225 ·
:shifty:

Wolverhampton to feature in Monopoly board game

A new version of the board game Monopoly is to be based on the city of Wolverhampton.



Residents are being given the chance to nominate the 22 landmarks and locations which will be included in the edition.

The game was first released in the US in 1935 and is now available in 43 different languages.

Voting ends on 24 May and suggestions can be submitted to the game's producers via Facebook and email. It is due to be released in October.

Some of the Community Chest and Chance cards will be also be customised to reflect the local area.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-22221906
 
#230 ·
Here's the story from the E&S

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2013/04/19/tesco-to-start-work-in-wolverhampton-in-2014/

Tesco bosses have announced that work on its long-awaited Wolverhampton superstore is to start next year, bringing new life to the city’s landmark former Royal Wolverhampton Hospital site.

The supermarket giant underlined its commitment to the £60 million Wolverhampton scheme, expected to create around 500 jobs, after it was revealed the group was axing more than 100 other proposed developments nationwide.

As a result, Tesco has wiped £804m from the value of its property holdings. The firm plans to put more emphasis on smaller convenience stores and has cut back many of its proposed Tesco Extra projects.

But Tesco spokesman Jonathan Simpson said the announcement would have no impact on the group’s plans for the Black Country, where it is building new stores in West Bromwich and Stourbridge.

Work has yet to start on the former Royal Hospital site, but Mr Simpson said: “Our plan is to start on the site next year.

“We are entirely committed to the Royal Hospital site in Wolverhampton,” he added.

The £60m transformation of the site has been in the pipeline for more than a decade but has been hit by a series of delays and planning wrangles, including a long battle with Sainsbury’s. Both were vying to redevelop the Raglan Street site.

That battle went all the way to the Supreme Court and was only resolved when Tesco was told it could develop the Royal Hospital as a £60m store spanning 97,000 sq ft. Between them the two supermarkets are expected to provide 1,050 jobs.

Around 10 per cent of the land for the Sainsbury’s store was owned by Tesco but a land transfer deal between the supermarkets cleared the way for the Sanisbury’s Raglan Street project.
 
#231 ·
I walked around Bilston town centre today. Some thoughts.

- Several new shops, mainly beauty shops, cash for gold, that sort of thing.
- Lidl looks awful now.
- Bilston Urban Village is progressing, ground works next to the new baths.
- Buses are now using the bus lane to Bilston Urban Village and the school is open.
- The Black Country Route is now a major obstacle, as both sets of crossings have been moved a few hundred metres either way, it's really awkward to cross now so many will stay in Morrisons I imagine.
- Several shops have closed since. Argos is awful now (not bad for a shop I suppose, but it's taken only half the footprint of the former Woolworths, and is really just an unnecessarily big space with little stock in).
- Town hall looks great and there are some real quality shop fronts around it.
- A couple of prime development sites which are just derelict at the moment, including two shops on the High Street which are crying out to be used.
- Cafe has closed in the bus station. Ready to open again, someone take it on!
- The Market Centre looks quite bright inside now, dunno when they painted the inside again. But the charity shop has been replaced with a Cash 4 Gold which I found a little sad.
- The side of the tracks with Pipe Hall and Metro Cafe is awful. Needs a bridge over the tracks and some major development. Wasn't a shopping street planned here?
- The market is too tight. Too close together. Crime is rampant and quite easy. I never noticed so much as a kid but it really should be stretched along the High Street instead of all cramped here.
- Good selection of pubs and cafes, most of them independent. The Wetherspoons looks decent but the Greyhound and Punchbowl is a bit secluded where it is (the planned development around here linking to Bilston Urban Village should help bring footfall).
- Happily, Tylers of Bilston maintains a large store here, unlike their severely downsized Wolverhampton shop.
- The monuments and street art that were built around the Millenium needs a quick clean and paint. Looks a bit bad right now.
- Bilston's been completely screwed over by Banga Buses, who no longer visit Wolverhampton Bus Station. Took a while to wait for a bus which when it came was a 79 so didn't go to Bilston Bus Station anyway. I know, there's the Metro, but still, there used to be buses every couple of minutes from the bus station.

Can't wait for the miniscraper development, The Orchard, and the new shopping street leading to Bilston Urban Village.
 
#233 ·
I think they dropped a ball in Bilston when the built the part of the Black Country Route in the town. With the new developments such as the BUV or Baths & Morrisons, they have effectively cut the town in 2 with the road. They should have either completely bypassed the town or built it on where it is now but in a tunnel. To me the stretch of the BCR was done on the cheap in & around Bilston & should have been constructed like it is from the keyway to Junction10
 
#234 ·
On the contrary, though, I would never even visit Bilston if it wasn't for that road, and yet, in the past year I have stopped in the town to buy food as I was passing through. I do understand your point, though; that is always going to be a side effect of building a major road through an area, but it can be solved with proper pedestrian and roadway access via bridges/tunnels/junctions, that either bypass the road or make it easy/simple to cross from one side to the other.
 
#240 ·
According to the express and star its Phase 1 of the loop.

In typical E&S Style the headline is negative instead of being positive that there is going to be some progression for the town!

"Two years’ of Wolverhampton roadworks for extension to Midlands Metro"

Transport bosses have been wanting to extend the tram system for years and have plans to eventually loop it around Wolverhampton city centre at a cost of £30m.

The first phase would see the route extended less than half a mile and would connect the existing St George’s Metro terminus in Bilston Street with the bus station in Piper’s Row and the city’s rail station – a journey that can take around seven minutes to walk.

And it will result in two years of disruption as work takes place to build it from early 2015 – subject to the Government providing the money. The public and businesses are now being invited to give their views on the plans in a consultation.

Centro, the region’s transport authority, believes the scheme will support the planned redevelopment of land next to the rail station which is expected to see £100 million of investment and 1,400 new jobs if new offices, a hotel and bars are created along with a revamp of the station itself.
Full Article Here:
http://www.expressandstar.com/news/...on-roadworks-for-extension-to-midlands-metro/
 
#242 ·
The empty corner next to the Metro One campus of the college (opposite the Metro) is to finally be used, as a properly landscaped car park.

The Wishbone Bridge has been painted white and actually looks pretty good now!

The headline of the Express and Star is about a new hotel for Wolverhampton - but it's not on the online paper. Anyone know any more?
 
#246 ·
Virgin Trains are to invest millions of pounds in Wolverhampton Railway Station - something which I believe they do NOT have to do as part of their franchise. This is brilliant.

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/...ns-of-pounds-for-wolverhampton-train-station/
As someone who uses the station daily i am utterly, stupendously delighted. It is an awful station in just about every way one can imagine. The entrance/exit, more than anything is so spectacularly stupid. Surficed to say that when just 1 larger train unloads it is a nightmare. Oh please please please let this happen.
 
#249 ·
#251 ·
TE's been gone for weeks now Butters.
I didn't realise - I'm sure I was only there a month or so ago. Oh well, at least I bought a stack of cheap CDs whilst it was there, plus there's the smaller but well stocked That's Entertainment at Merry Hill.

Still sad though. I remember my dad buying me toys from the large WH Smiths, plus some of my first singles. :(
 
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