The whole of West Bromwich can celebrate the demolition of a notorious ‘blot on the landscape’ in the town centre - which could kickstart more investment, jobs and opportunities.
We are putting a ‘significant sum’ of money into the demolition of the Queen Square car park in Bull Street to make way for a mixture of homes, leisure and retail facilities, under new plans.
This dilapidated old car park was built in the 1970s and, to be frank, was a bit of a blot on the landscape.
Many town and city centres around the country have tired old car parks like this, which have fallen into disrepair and don’t really reflect how shopping has changed. They take up important spaces in prime locations that could be used for all kinds of regenerations projects, so it’s a real reason for celebration when they are knocked down.
It shows that things are getting done, opens the way for investment and encourages us to think about how we want our town centres to be in the 21st Century.
The regeneration of the Queen’s Square car park is an exciting example of exactly how we want to create attractive, inviting new spaces in our town centres.
I want to make a real difference to this part of West Bromwich, and I look forward to seeing how plans for the wider regeneration of the area develop.
The four-storey car park had fallen into disrepair over the past five years, with the upper levels and its lift unusable. In October, the car park was finally closed to shoppers over safety concerns.
The funding was made available through a WMCA regeneration scheme aimed at improving town centres across the West Midlands. Five town centres - West Bromwich, Bilston, Dudley and Walsall - have been put forward for funding.