Car parking fees to help fund Wolverhampton rail station revamp

Transport authority Centro and Wolverhampton City Council have been given £4.5 government growth funding for the £100m project but are still around £20m short. They want to borrow the money to get it started but need permission from the government.

Geoff Inskip, chief executive of Centro, said the money would be paid back using the fees from car parking, which is set to be doubled to 900 spaces.

Councils have been allowed to borrow money to fund major developments, paying the loans back using income from the businesses that set up there.

A major example was the £36.7 million slip road at Junction 2 of the M54.

Wolverhampton City Council and Staffordshire County Council are paying off the loan with the business rates from Jaguar Land Rover and other companies on the i54 business park, which were encouraged to build there because of the improved transport link.

Mr Inskip revealed the car park at the rail station will help to finally get the long-delayed development moving.

He said: "We have a proposal going to government saying that we want to take a loan of £20 million.

"We want to repay it out of the car parking. We are providing more car parking and will use the income from that."

The existing 450 space car park will be remodelled and expanded.

There will also be a new 520 space car park, cycle and motorcycle park and 18 berth taxi rank built as an extension to the existing multi- storey as well as a new access off Mill Street.

The overall masterplan is for £100 million worth of public and private investment along with 300,000 sq ft of commercial space.

Work is taking place on a £10m office block next to the £22.5m bus station that opened in 2011.

The plan also includes an extension of the Midland Metro from Bilston Street, down Piper's Row and Railway Drive to the rail station front door.

The Black Country is receiving £162 million through the government's Growth Deal between now and 2021.

The funding will go towards the expansion of Wolverhampton City College, new homes in Walsall and a railway centre in Dudley. Previous funding is paying for developments including a revamp for the Civic Halls in Wolverhampton and a major expansion of Junction 10 of the M6 at Walsall.

Other schemes include the creation of a Light Rail Innovation Centre in Dudley which will specialise in prototype vehicle design and construction, as well as providing education, and research and development facilities to local businesses. It will receive £4.5m to help to create new public transport technologies for the future.

Wolverhampton College will get funding to help 3,000 students and 50 businesses and there will be £6m to help to develop land for housing and jobs, including £2.3m in Sandwell, and £400,000 towards the development of Walsall Waterfront.