Developing part of Wolverhampton is difficult due to market conditions, council chief says
Developing part of Wolverhampton once earmarked for a major £50 million scheme will be difficult due to current market conditions, a council chief has said.
The city's flagship Westside project was set to bring a cinema, restaurants, ten-pin bowling, mini golf, a hotel and a car park to a 6.4 acre plot in the city centre.
But the plans hit the buffers last year and it shelved and replaced with a new scheme dubbed City Centre West, which includes the £15.7m works around Victoria Street.
Now Councillor Stephen Simkins, deputy leader of the authority, said the council remains committed to the project but seeking private investment was difficult.
He said: "This will be a developer-led scheme in financial challenging times. We're working with partners such as Homes England and DLUHC (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) to bring forward proposals for a strong developer-led interest space.
"This will be a mixed space that will be using schemes of residents, commercial and leisure. The current market conditions are extremely difficult and borrowing to the private sector is as equally as bad as it is in the public sector.
"So current conditions of risk are unacceptable for us to do this as a scheme that was intended originally as being council-led. We need to make sure that we put due diligence in and mitigate the risks."
Councillor Simkins criticised the current "whirlwind of chaos" taking place in Westminster – and the outcome of the city's bids to receive Levelling Up funds as issues currently facing the authority.
"Is it going to be difficult to develop Westside? You betcha. Is there a vision? Yes," he added. "It's really difficult for us to bring in the private sector to get these developments over the line."
