Council hopes to team up with private developer on £500m scheme to 'arrest the decline' of retail in West Bromwich

At a meeting set to be held next week (Wednesday, March 12) Sandwell Council will decide whether to begin the process of going out to tender for a private partner for its ambitious town centre masterplan proposals later this year.

The West Bromwich Masterplan, setting out the future regeneration of West Bromwich Town Centre, was approved in 2022.

Sandwell Council hopes the scheme, which includes over 11,000 square metres of new retail space and over 5,000 square metres of new offices will drive a "truly sustainable town centre economy" and "arrest the decline of the high street". Over 1,300 homes are also proposed to be built as part of the proposals.

The authority says its long term vision for the town centre will provide "business confidence" which would present "significant investment opportunities" for the town which will enable it to grow and be sustainable for the future. 

If approved, preliminary market engagement with developers will kick off this month, with a final decision on the award of the construction contract made in early 2026, subject to further approval.

"The construction costs for the delivery of the masterplan are estimated to be £506m. As such, the council will be required to partner with a developer who will be able to secure and deploy significant private sector investment in order to realise the proposals," said a report set to go before the council's cabinet next week.

"If successful, it is intended that this model could then be replicated across other Masterplan areas and/or major construction, transport or delivery programmes in the borough."

Other options under consideration include direct sales of sites in the masterplan area, but the report concludes that this would "not considered to be of interest to the private sector market due to unviable nature of sites."

Doing nothing and placing responsibility of delivery of the masterplan wholly in the hands of the private sector would also be considered un-attractive to developers. 

"The viability analysis conducted demonstrates that without public sector intervention to assemble and de-risk sites, the opportunity is highly unviable and therefore will not be attractive to the market to deliver in isolation," the report says.

A decision on next steps for the scheme will be taken next week.