Exactly who will benefit?

I keep hearing about the 6,000 jobs that will be created at the Wobaston i54 development and now a new promise of 30,000 jobs by 2031, recently announced by Wolverhampton Development Company.

More units, shops, cafes, restaurants, it all sounds absolutely marvellous. What I would like to know however is why we really need all these new developments when stores are closing down every week, small businesses are going bump and there are hundreds of industrial units standing empty all over the immediate area.

In the case of the i54 project at Wobaston Road for instance, we have on the opposite side of the road Pendeford Business Park where units have stood empty since the place was first built. So I would ask the question, whose interests does all this development serve? certainly not Joe Public.

If all the millions are available to such organisations as WDC and AWM, would it not make more sense to ease the financial burden on existing businesses, rates etc, and maybe even provide us with roads which are free from pot-holes and sunken man-hole covers?

Care homes closing, elderly people on the poverty line, playing fields covered in concrete, never mind, let's build a few more shops, at least we can all stay warm in the winter, that is of course if we can afford the bus fare up town.

D Bodley, Manor House Park, Bilbrook, Wolverhampton.