Jobs boost hope as i54 expands

Football pitches next to the 226-acre site have been sold for £3 million and it is believed the buyer is luxury car maker Jaguar Land Rover.

The company is currently is fitting out its £500m engine plant, with 1,400 jobs being created from the end of the year, and the land that has been sold is next to another vacant plot already earmarked for future expansion.

The money from the sale of the playing fields in Wobaston Road, Pendeford is being split between Wolverhampton City Council and Staffordshire County Council.

Wolverhampton City Council has refused to say what the extra space will be used for.

As well as the JLR plant, the i54 is already home to aerospace engineering company Moog and the Eurofins laboratories.

Stamp printing firm International Security Printers – better known as ISP - is moving from Walsall to the i54 next year and its new premises are currently under construction.

The city council's cabinet had agreed at a behind closed doors meeting to 'dispose' of the council-owned pitches in Wobaston Road, opposite Moog's site, allowing the extension of the i54.

The grounds had not been used for some years, and work has already begun on their replacement.

Gurdip Thandi, spokesman for the city council, said the scheme was part of a joint venture between Wolverhampton and Staffordshire County Council, where both authorities had agreed to invest in the site for regeneration.

"Redevelopment of the land at Wobaston Road will bring about major inward investment opportunities to the area creating further new jobs," he said.

The JLR project at the i54 is being hailed as the biggest investment by a private company in Wolverhampton for decades.

Wolverhampton and Staffordshire County councils are paying for a £36.7m slip road to connect the site with the M54 motorway.

Work has also taken place to move the Vine Island roundabout on the junction of Stafford Road and Wobaston Road so it can cope with the increased traffic.

Wobaston Road is currently being widened.

The leader of Wolverhampton City Council, who first suggested the landmark i54 site for major development in 1996, today praised others who 'held their nerve' and kept it free during the recession.

The i54 stood vacant for years and critics said it should have been used for warehouses instead.

But JLR's announcement in 2011 would not have been possible if the site were not available and ready to build on.

The land falls under the responsibility of Wolverhampton City Council and Staffordshire County Council but South Staffordshire Council is in charge of planning permission.

Councillor Lawrence said: "It is hard to imagine that it was nearly 20 years ago when we first suggested this as a site for development.

"Credit must go to South Staffordshire Council for keeping its nerve and not turning it over to logistics or warehousing. The i54 has become an extremely important site but we are also seeing good things happening elsewhere in Wolverhampton, with Debenhams announcing they are coming to the Mander Centre and Sainsbury's getting ready to open their superstore soon."

The i54 site was designated part of the Government's Black Country Enterprise Zone in 2011, and the following year Moog, which makes flight controls for aircraft, became fully operational on site following a £15 million move. Laboratory firm Eurofins also moved into the development, opening the same year.

The football pitches are being replaced, with the council investing around £3 million at Barnhurst Lane, Pendeford to compensate for the loss of the land at i54 and at the former Jennie Lee Centre in Wednesfield, which has been earmarked for housing.

Around a dozen sports pitches are being created, including senior, junior and mini-pitches. There will also be running and bike track and changing facilities.

The work is being carried out with the help of a £450,000 grant from the Football Foundation.