Outline application approved for Brewers Yard living scheme in Wolverhampton
An outline planning application for a "game-changing" living scheme at the site of a council depot in Wolverhampton has been approved.
Wolverhampton Council has granted approval for the plans at the site of its Culwell Street depot to facilitate the first phase of the transformational Brewers Yard city centre living regeneration masterplan.
It will see the council’s vehicle fleet services relocated from the depot to a new base on Hickman Avenue alongside the city’s wholesale market, with construction to start on its major revamp next year, subject to full planning approval.
With funding from the council, West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and the Towns Fund, the proposed plans will see services at the Culwell Street site relocated and buildings demolished.
In their place, around 600 new apartments will be built in the coming years, creating hundreds of construction jobs.
The council has said the aspiration is for the Brewers Yard project to extend wider, providing a total of around 1,000 homes.
Wolverhampton Council acting leader and cabinet member for inclusive city economy, Councillor Stephen Simkins, said: "This is an important step in delivering Brewers Yard for the city of Wolverhampton – one of the biggest game-changing schemes in the region.
"In the coming years phase one will deliver top-quality living at the heart of our city, with connectivity to state-of-the-art transport facilities.
"It will create easy access to a reinvented city centre providing a great leisure and sporting offer, a vibrant public events programme, outstanding arts and culture offer, and a thriving commercial district with well-paid jobs.
"The proposed relocation of our fleet services operation will make them more efficient and the redevelopment of the Hickman Avenue site will provide a major uplift to the city’s wholesale market.
"It is all part of the multi-billion pound investment in the city of Wolverhampton that is also delivering jobs and opportunities for local people of all ages."
The planned development will sit just a few hundred metres from the city’s new transport interchange, providing direct access to Birmingham, London and Manchester.
Andy Street, mayor of the West Midlands and WMCA chair, added: "Brewers Yard has a key role to play in the on-going regeneration of Wolverhampton city centre which is why the WMCA has already invested more than £5 million into delivering this first enabling phase of the development.
"The scheme will breathe fresh life into the area, providing affordable, energy efficient new homes and hundreds of jobs for local people.
"It’s a great example of how the WMCA is working with Wolverhampton and other local councils to unlock and transform brownfield urban sites to help drive economic growth while protecting our precious green belt."
Once all the land is unlocked for housing, the completed scheme will see a mixture of houses and apartments and new retail and commercial space.
