24-hour Wolverhampton city centre car park can stay after council is overruled by government inspector

Wolverhampton Council blocked a move that would allow the car park, on the corner of School Street and Fold Street in Wolverhampton city centre, to remain after it was opened without permission at the start of last year.

The car park was opened on the site of land earmarked for 113 new flats after the aging Network House and shopping parade was demolished more than five years ago.

A government inspector has now overruled the local authority saying the car park can stay for up to 12 months.

The government inspector said: “I have not been provided with any substantive evidence to demonstrate that the proposed use as a car park is discouraging redevelopment.

“The developer of the proposed housing scheme has detailed that they have been unable to secure the necessary funding to commence the project, but that their intention remains to develop the site in line with the regeneration vision for the area.

“Moreover, I note that the car park has been taken on a short-term agreement which includes a 28-day break clause for potential development, which would ensure that the housing development could begin when funds are secured.”

The car park sits next to the council’s own 270-space Fold Street car park. Plans to convert the former Beatties car park opposite into new flats were approved in 2022.

While the buildings were then demolished, a request by the main developer Taylor Grange Developments to extend the planning permission for the proposed flats for a further three years was then approved in 2022.

A patch of land was converted into a private 24-hour car park at the start of last year by Parkit Management, which manages the car park, without planning permission from the council.

A retrospective application – asking to ratify the work that had already been carried out unlawfully – was then rejected by planning officers at City of Wolverhampton Council who said the tarmacked car park was a far cry from the 113 flats originally promised and went against the council’s plans to regenerate the area.

An appeal was lodged with the government’s planning inspectors in a bid to get the decision overturned.

The developer said the new flats would still be built in the future but the car park would generate money for the development until “extremely high” construction costs dropped and the economy recovered.

The application went on to say that if the council rejected the car park plans, the site would “quickly revert to being a wasteland and eyesore” with “rubbish, needles, rubble and no lights.”

A report outlining the council’s decision against Parkit Management’s application said: “[The plans for 133 flats] made the most efficient use of land and the best design solution to a comprehensive and high-density approach that integrates with existing street patterns and creates new spaces, routes and views which take reference from and enhance the historic characteristics of the wider city area.”