£48m Towns Fund bid to be submitted

Wolverhampton’s Town Deal Board is set to submit a final bid for up to £48m of Government cash to transform the city centre, Bilston and Wednesfield.

The Towns Fund bid will be submitted on Friday, with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government expected to announce the outcome in late September.

The bid aims to support education and skills and bolster enterprise culture through the City Learning Quarter, National Brownfield Institute, 5G application accelerator, and Wolves at Work employment programme.

It aims to ensure the regeneration benefits are felt beyond the city centre through projects in and around Bilston Market and Wednesfield Market and their high streets, as well as canal towpath development.

Stimulating the city centre’s residential offer is also key to the bid to accelerate the delivery of schemes such as Brewers Yard and Horseley Fields as part of Canalside regeneration.

The cash would also help the delivery of an Arts Park next to the Grand Theatre and City Centre Public Realm Phase 2, plus a Bilston Market, Wednesfield Market & High Street events programme.

Chair of the Wolverhampton Town Deal Board and Black Country LEP board member, Ninder Johal, said: “It’s amazing what can be achieved through collaboration and partnership when all the communities come together to decide on a vision for their city.

“Collectively and unanimously we have agreed after many months of deliberation and scrutiny on where we would like to spend almost £48million of Government funding – which we have bid for, fingers crossed.

“Wolverhampton is a city with a Premier League club, a city with a premier community of businesses and residents, and a city with a premier vision.”

City of Wolverhampton Council leader Ian Brookfield, added: “All the proposals have been agreed unanimously by the Board and we can now send the bid in.

“Everyone is pleased with the quality of the proposals and how the schemes are distributed across the three centres.

“It has the potential to generate thousands of jobs, apprenticeships and learning opportunities, as well as deliver hundreds of new homes, and provide a huge economic uplift to our city.

“This is a bold bid with a lot of brilliant initiatives and it will make big difference to all our lives.”