Brierley Hill to get town centre status

The area has now been designated as a ‘strategic centre’ following the Government’s adoption of the phase one revision of the West Midland’s Regional Spatial Strategy.

As predicted in Property Week (05-11-04) the Department for Communities and Local government (DCLG), has today confirmed Brierley Hill’s position as one of the four centres for growth in the Black Country, along with Walsall, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton.

Major boost for Westfield

This decision is a major boost for the Brierley Hill area and particularly Westfield and QIC which own the Merry Hill shopping centre and are partners within the partnership.

Tim Sunter, chief executive of Brierley Hill Regeneration Partnership, said: ‘While a lot of hard work has gone into achieving strategic centre status, it is only the beginning of the regeneration road for Brierley Hill. We now need to urgently move on and meet the transport challenge for the Black Country.

It is crucial that the impressive single-mindedness demonstrated in achieving the approval is now directed at securing the Metro extension.’

Wholesale regeneration

The Brierley Hill Implementation Strategy is a detailed plan for the wholesale regeneration of Brierley Hill. It will be delivered through a mixture of public sector funded infrastructure projects and private sector investment in commercial and residential developments.

In detail the plans involve developing 2,800 new homes, 3.4m sq ft of office space and more than 53,820 sq ft of retail space which will join together the three areas in the town - the high street, waterfront and Merry Hill shopping centre areas into one integrated Town Centre.