Major Wolverhampton city centre redevelopment to start next year - full details of scheme which includes 1,000 homes

At their meeting in July, members of City of Wolverhampton’s Scrutiny Board heard the City Centre West project was moving ahead with initial agreements now in place.

The scheme, which is the city’s largest regeneration proposal in Wolverhampton’s local plan, covers five hectares and includes the former Westside development area.

Wolverhampton director of regeneration Richard Lawrence said: “The scale of the scheme in totality is between 800 and 1,000 new homes to include around 70,000 square feet of retail, leisure and commercial space and the provision of new public realm within the city centre.”

The scheme will be delivered in four phases with the first phase, in Market Square, providing 250 build to rent apartments and 110 affordable homes.

Councillors were told, subject to approval by the authority’s cabinet, the first planning applications were expected to be made in September or October and completion of the first phase is expected in 2027.

The development is a collaboration between the council and the English Cities fund, which is a partnership between Muse, Legal and General and Homes England specialising regeneration projects.

Councillor John Reynolds said: “Britain is almost unique in not having anybody living in city centres, this sort of a scheme is absolutely required.

“The little bit that concerns me is the retail part of the scheme, at the moment in Market Square virtually all the shops are empty and the ones around it are pretty poor quality, do we need more shops?”

Mr Lawrence said: “The reason that it is phased and longer term is that we are expecting the market to shift.

“The early phase is predominantly residential focused, that is where the demand is at the moment, in eight to ten years time that might shift and we need to make sure we are providing a comprehensive response to that.”