Multi-million pound shopping complex on the way to Oldbury

A retail park will be built on a former foundry site in the town, under the scheme by Hammerson, the owners of Birmingham's Grand Central and Bullring shopping centres.

Eleven shops – including a discount foodstore – will be built on the 12-acre site in Bromford Road under the proposals.

The scheme is a scaled-back version of long-running plans for a retail site dubbed The Junction, which was previously hailed as 'the final piece of the jigsaw' for Oldbury by councillors.

And in a report prepared by officers to councillors, who will make a decision on the planning application next week, it was said: "While the current application is for a substantially smaller parcel of land and only includes retail units.

"There remains an opportunity to seek further leisure development within the undeveloped part of the site."

It continued: "The risks that the site would not be developed comprehensively are very low due to the infrastructure that is required in order to facilitate the development."

No objections also came in form the council's head of highways subject to modifications to the plan which included a new junction layout with pedestrian routes.

The Environment Agency and West Midlands Police also raised no objections.

Group Access Alliance asked for disabled toilet facilities to be included as part of the plan.

The site, now vacant, was previously the home of Hunt Brothers Griffin Foundry which was demolished in 2003 to make way for a larger retail and leisure development that didn't come to fruition.

Smaller scale industrial units had occupied the northern end of the site since the 1950s.

Permission was initially granted for the shopping centre in November 2004.

In 2007, 2009 and 2011, Sandwell Council granted approval to amendments.

A £50 million scheme, covering a 34-acre site and creating 1,000 jobs, was given final approval in 2011 but the land has remained empty ever since.

Hammerson, whose portfolio of shopping centres and retail parks across Europe is worth £8.4 billion, is also the owner of the Wrekin and Telford Forge Retail Parks in Telford, which are home to some of the retail world's biggest names, including Sainsbury's, Tesco, Sports Direct, Argos and Gap.

In a full-year results announcement released in February, the company revealed that it had increased profits by four per cent to £726.8 million over the course of 2015.