A ‘fantastic team effort’ is behind a £10 million cash injection for Brierley Hill High Street.
The money will be invested in Brierley Hill High Street to create better public space for the community, enhance the look of the town centre and support the building of 250 homes, more than 80 per cent of which will be affordable.
This has been a fantastic team effort and I am extremely grateful to Dudley South’s brilliant MP Mike Wood who has led from the front, to Dudley Council for coordinating the successful improved bid and to the Brierley Hill Community Forum for their invaluable input.
As the region’s Mayor, it’s my job to constantly talk to Government about winning funds for our communities, but in Dudley, we have benefitted from a team that works together to make things happen.
This funding will go a long way in turning Brierley Hill into a more attractive place to shop, work and live and that is fantastic news for our whole area.
Dudley South MP Mike Wood said: “Everybody knows the struggles that Brierley Hill town centre has faced – going back 50 years to the decline of the Round Oak Steel Works and Marsh & Baxters factory, which was followed by increased competition from the Merry Hill Centre, and now people increasingly shopping online.
“Our local High Streets are crucial not only as sources of jobs and prosperity, but because of how important they are to our local communities’ identities.
"Together, as a team, we have secured massive investment to support local jobs and small businesses at the DY5 Enterprise Zone, the £450 million Metro Extension, and £1.8 million of Heritage Action Zone funding, and we now have this £10 million to transform Brierley Hill Town Centre and bring all of these projects together.”
Key to the transformation will be improving connectivity with the new Metro terminus – making it easier for shoppers to travel between various points of interest by foot, road and Metro.
The library will be refurbished, and public toilets will again be reopened in the town centre.
Part of the plan will be to deliver 270 mixed tenure homes on underused land close to the high street, to encourage improved footfall and spending. The sites will be developed to provide affordable housing to meet local needs and owner-occupied homes to bring new income to the area.
