Cinema scrapped from £82m plan to transform eyesore Cavendish House
The £82 million development transforming eyesore office block Cavendish House will no longer feature a cinema and large supermarket, it has emerged.
People claim the Dudley landmark, visible from Duncan Edwards Way, is a blot on the town after being left boarded up and at the mercy of vandals.
The Portersfield development would redevelop the area near Dudley Bus Station but has yet to come to fruition.
Council bosses requested significant changes, focusing on new homes, including student accommodation to support Dudley College, despite it being billed as a retail development.
Dudley Council leader, Councillor Patrick Harley, says the authority did not want a cinema competing with the Showcase complex on Castlegate park.
He has asked developer Avenbury to scrap that part of the project.
A supermarket also planned will now also be smaller than originally envisaged.
Councillor Harley insisted there were no issues over funding for the long-awaited demolition of the derelict former Inland Revenue offices.
Money has been agreed with the Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership to bulldoze the office block but getting the cash in place is thought to have been behind the hold-up.
Once Cavendish House is finally knocked down it will pave the way for work to begin on Portersfield, which will also include shops, bars and restaurants.
Councillor Harley said: "The developer put a couple of things on the table which we didn't think quite fitted so they came back with another set of proposals and are looking at tweaking the development.
"We have got the funding but first we need to agree the development.
"Originally there was going to be a cinema but we have got a cinema a three-minute walk down the road on Castlegate.
"I think there needs to be more residential and we are waiting for them to come back and tweak the plans.
"The college is growing so we need more student accommodation."
Dudley Council has come under fire for the time it has taken to get rid of the despised Cavendish House.
Former MP Ian Austin submitted a petition, signed by 1,300 people, calling for it to go.
Councillor Harley added: "We are stalling the development because we want the right development for the town. We are not going to rush.
"If we had ploughed full speed ahead we may well have had Cavendish House down by now but we would be stuck with something with a cinema, large supermarket and underground car park.
"Looking at the state of retail at the moment we need more residential."
