£1.2m plan to improve Merry Hill access

Dudley Council has received Government funding to carry out the work which includes installing a crossing for shoppers walking to the centre.

Officers are working with transport authority Centro on the proposals and hope to secure planning permission for the scheme next month. They will then start work as soon as possible to get the project off the ground.

The crossing will be controlled with traffic lights and will be on the Pedmore Road, Brierley Hill.

Changes will also be made to the junction of The Boulevard and Mill Street to provide priority to buses to make it easier for them to access and leave the centre. A new segregated signal controlled bus lane and gate will be created.

It comes after a planned £3m bus station at Merry Hill was shelved because transport bosses feared it would have been too expensive to build.

At the time the council said it hoped to be able to make improvements for bus passengers and pedestrians despite the new station not going ahead.

Under the plans, which were axed in November, a new building would have been built and the number of serving buses increased by 25 per cent.

Planning applications have now been submitted for the new schemes and a decision is expected to be made by councillors at a meeting next month.

The council's transport boss Councillor Khurshid Ahmed said: "As part of money secured through the Better Bus Area Fund Dudley Council will be working in partnership with Centro to bring forward two improvement schemes.

"We will be introducing a traffic light controlled crossing on Pedmore Road to improve pedestrian access to the Merry Hill Centre and a bus priority scheme at the junction of The Boulevard and Mill Street in Brierley Hill.

"Planning applications for both of these projects have already been submitted and it is likely they will be considered by the Development Control Committee next month before work can start on site later in the year."

The crossing is being built near the spot where 53-year-old taxman Chris Clarke was knocked down as he walked to work at the nearby HM Revenue & Customs at The Waterfront in April last year. His family has welcomed improvements on the road.

The council received £1.1m from the Government towards the scheme. Bosses have earmarked a further £100,000 from the council's 2014/15 transport fund for the project.

Although the Merry Hill bus station plan was put on hold, other projects in the Black Country were more successful in getting funding.

The Cradley Heath interchange, next to the town's railway station, will be given a £1.9 million revamp.

As part of Centro's funding programme it will invest £3.3m on new buses, £1m of shelter and information improvements on eight key routes into Brierley Hill, and £700,000 towards the Black Country Swift smart card scheme in Dudley. Dudley Council is also working on a £4.2m plan to improve nearby Pensnett High Street, a proposal which has been backed by council bosses.