Wolverhampton Mander Centre revamp is good sign

Years on from the disappointing and devastating failure that was the abandoned Summer Row shopping centre, it is high time that big name stores were given the incentive to invest in Wolverhampton once more.

There are reasons to be optimistic about the city's fortunes.

• Wolverhampton's Mander Centre to be transformed in revamp

Jaguar Land Rover's engine plant is coming on well. Sainsbury's has finally begun the construction of its new superstore after a decade of legal wrangles and hold ups.

Tesco remains a concern, having put construction work at the Royal Hospital on hold.

The plan for the Mander Centre is create a new department store and merge some of the smaller shops into bigger ones.

It will be three years before everything is complete.

While some may grumble at building work and disruption, it is a sign that the businesses who create the jobs and growth that is so vital to the economy have enough confidence in Wolverhampton to be in it for the long term.

And it is a sign that there are those who are not yet in Wolverhampton who see its residents as the sort of people they want to serve.

This is not some desperately poor backwater without the money to spend in shops.

If even half the people who live in and around Wolverhampton used it instead of going so often to Birmingham and Telford the city centre would be teeming.

But if Wolverhampton is to have a future as a shopping destination, particularly in the age of internet retail and out of town centres with free parking, it must have something new to offer.

We have already seen the boost that can be given to a town's image with the £200 million New Square development in West Bromwich.

Well-intentioned as everyone was with the planned £300 million Summer Row, it never got off the ground.

The Mander Centre has the advantage of already being open and trading, of being able to refurbish and revamp rather than having to start from scratch.

It must now be given all the support it needs to get its project up and running and completed as soon as it can. Then we can start to hope that we have turned the corner and the worst is behind us.