Black Country Enterprise Zone boosted by Walsall roads package

THE development of a crucial part of the Black Country Enterprise Zone will be speeded up following Government approval of a £26m package of road schemes.

The BCEZ is split between two sites – the i54 business park, which straddles Wolverhampton and South Staffordshire, and the former James Bridge Copper Works at Darlaston.

The i54 site has already been earmarked as home for a new £355m Jaguar Land Rover engine plant, in addition to a string of other advanced manufacturing operations.

The Darlaston site, once redeveloped, will accommodate dozens of firms in the advanced manufacturing supply chain who will in turn, feed into businesses on the main i54 site and beyond.

However, before the site can open, it needs to be stripped of its contaminants and the package of measures agreed by the Department for Transport includes proposals for a new road network to be built, feeding the site.

This is expected to improve the decontamination work, with contractors benefiting from better access to the site.

Developer Parkhill Estates has been lined-up for an £18m package to reclaim the site, which is set to be renamed Phoenix 10.

Work is expected to start around spring 2013 and the project will take two years to complete.

Cllr Tom Ansell, Walsall Council cabinet member for transport and lead member for Walsall on transport authority Centro, said: “We can now move forward and create the jobs and prosperity we need.”

The roads package will be funded through a £14.316m Government grant, a £5.664m Walsall Council contribution, £5.665m from Centro and £1m from businesses in the borough.

The roads package includes an upgrade to Bentley Road South, Bentley Mill Way, the junction of A4038 Darlaston Road and A4148 Old Pleck Road and the junction of A461 Bescot Road and A4148 Wallows Lane.