£6 billion and 45,000 homes: Plans for Black Country Garden City revealed
Plans have been unveiled for a £6 billion scheme to build 45,000 homes across the Black Country, turning it into Britain's biggest ever garden city.
The plans will see the Garden City built across around 30 towns in and around Wolverhampton, extending to Aldridge, West Bromwich, Lye and Dudley Port.
Work will start this year and is expected to carry on for a decade in one of Britain's biggest brownfield site regeneration schemes – using old industrial sites rather than building on green fields. It will cover more than 1,500 hectares, or 3,700 acres.
The project, designed to meet 'unprecedented demand' for housing, was launched by local civic and business leaders at an international property exhibition in the South of France.
They are hoping investors at the huge MIPIM exhibition will provide funding for their ambitious plans.
Leaders believe the Black Country needs to start building now if it is to avoid the housing problems blighting London and the South East, where houses have been priced out of the market for most ordinary families.
The scheme today received the backing of Government, with Communities Secretary Greg Clark saying: "The Black Country Garden City symbolises the region's ambition.
"It will deliver modern new housing that will be a magnet for business investment, notably in advanced manufacturing and construction, which will boost the local economy and supply the houses local families want.
"Schemes like this are a vital part of the work this Government is doing to rebalance the economy and build the homes our country needs. House building is at a seven year high, but we're determined to go even further and deliver on our pledge to build over one million new homes."
Chris Handy, chief executive of the Accord Housing Group, is at MIPIM representing Black Country LEP – the joint body of civic and business leaders with the role of boosting jobs and investment in the area – of which he is a board member.
He said: "The Garden City is a vital part of the Black Country's growth plans and future success. It will increase the appeal of the region as a place to live and work, and will boost the local construction industry and its supply chain.
"It is close to skilled jobs and universities, a regional market of 5 million people, and is served by quality transport connections. Not the since the Second World War has a Garden City been built on this scale or at this speed. It's going to transform the perception of the Black Country and demonstrate to the rest of Britain that we are a region that is going places."
