Dudley bus station revamp 'needs to start soon'
The £18 million revamp of Dudley’s bus station needs to get rolling as soon as possible, the council leader insists.
The West Midlands Combined Authority is planning to upgrade the station to become an interchange for trams and buses.
Outline planning permission has already been granted and now Dudley Council is awaiting a full application from the WMCA.
The interchange will be built alongside long-awaited plans to bring the West Midlands Metro through Dudley – which is due to open in 2023.
And Dudley Council leader Councillor Patrick Harley has promised there will no hanging around once permission is granted.
He said: “In 2022, the Metro will get to Dudley and in 2023 it will get to Brierley Hill.
“The bus station needs to be up and running by then. The funding is already in place. Work could start imminently – it definitely needs to start in the next 18 months.”
The interchange would be a station for both buses and trams – the latter of which will pass through Dudley on tracks in the road.
The line will run between Brierley Hill and Wednesbury. The current bus station will need to be demolished in order to make way for the new interchange.
Other buildings nearby, which are a partly vacant Co-op store, a Farm Foods store, a former photography studio and warehouse unit, will also need to be brought down.
This would make way for the glass-fronted, two-storey building of the interchange.
It will also help plans to progress on the demolition of Cavendish House, an eyesore office block which overlooks the Dudley Southern By-pass.
Plans are in place for a multi-million-pound development in its place which would feature new homes and leisure facilities.
