Derelict parts of Wolverhampton city centre should be knocked down say business bosses
Business leaders are drawing up their own regeneration masterplan and calling for derelict buildings to be knocked down after wide-ranging proposals were put forward by Wolverhampton City Council.
The Wolverhampton Business Forum wants to see the area left blighted by the failure of the £300 million Summer Row shopping centre plan almost four years year demolished, cleared and turned into a new residential and entertainment quarter.
Group president Henry Carver says businesses want bars, restaurants, a cinema and town houses built on the site.
And while the group praised the council for its efforts to revive the city centre's fortunes, it warns many investors will not come to the area while derelict buildings still stand.
The council has drawn up a 12-year masterplan for public squares, a city centre cinema, thousands of new homes and a bustling canalside quarter.
Mr Carver, who runs Carvers Building Supplies, said: "We need to see things happening within three years, not 12.
"They have to demolish derelict buildings."
The business forum's plan is to be drawn up by bosses representing Wolverhampton based architects, construction experts and retailers.
Around 100 businesses attend the forum's monthly meetings. Mr Carver said the group would offer whatever help it could to the council to lobby for funding to bring plans to fruition.
"Summer Row won't regenerate itself. And investors will not invest in a site surrounded by dereliction.
"Knocking buildings down and creating grassed areas for the time being would be better than leaving it as it is now."
The traders say they want to see something that rivals Telford's new £250 million Southwater development, which has brand name restaurants and an Imax cinema among new developments.
Mr Carver said: "The council has been very helpful to the Mander Centre in clearing the way for it to be able to re-develop.
"And it brought an end to the decade of problems that held up the new Sainsbury's and Tesco developments.
"It isn't the council's fault that Tesco has not yet gone ahead with its plans for the Royal Hospital.
"There is a lot of potential in Wolverhampton if we get it right.
"There are people living within three miles of the city centre who go further afield to places like Telford, Merry Hill and Birmingham for entertainment when they could be coming here."
