Star comment: Project will bring back city visitors
There is little doubt that the ambitious Wolverhampton Interchange project has given the city a new lease of life.
The scheme has already seen much-needed developments such as i10, while work is under way to combine rail, tram and bus services in the city.
A new £22 million bus station is already in place, while the current railway station is due to be demolished to make way for a new one.
The work forms part of wider regeneration plans in Wolverhampton that it is hoped will bring back the visitors who have deserted the city in their droves over the last two decades.
Of course, the scheme has not been without its issues.
The new access point to the train station has brought misery for drivers and clearly needs a rethink. But overall, there is a lot to like about much of the work that is going on.
However, it is concerning to see that the cost of the project, which was initially expected to be £132m, has now risen by another £15m.
It seems that for any large scale public sector project, adding on an extra 15-20 per cent is almost a given these days.
It has become increasingly rare to hear about a scheme being completed both on time and at the originally stated cost.
Wolverhampton Council says the cost has gone up due to unspecified design changes and technical issues, while other unexpected costs relate to site investigations.
But there is no escaping the fact that the authority is faced with finding a sizeable chunk of money to ensure the scheme remains on track.
Bosses say they hope to secure half of the cash from the West Midlands Combined Authority, with as much as possible raised through capital grants.
However, this still represents an additional burden on the taxpayer.
The good news is that the authority has until 2020-21 to find the money, meaning there is plenty of time to explore a range of funding opportunities.
It is vital for the future prosperity of the city that this project continues to its conclusion without any unnecessary delays.
Earlier this week, a similar masterplan was unveiled for Stafford, involving hundreds of homes, a hotel and a new car park at the gateway to the town.
Cynics will no doubt be interested to see if they manage to keep to the stated cost of £500m.
