THE leader of Dudley Council was on hand this morning (Sunday) to see Stourbridge's skyline changed forever with the long-awaited demolition of Bell Street car park.

The shabby multi-storey fronting the ring road was brought crashing to the ground at around 10am with 30kg of high speed explosives.

Stourbridge councillor Les Jones, Dudley Council leader, had a front row view of the demolition which he said marked "the first sign of the regeneration of the town".

He told the News afterwards: "This is a very visible sign that change is happening in Stourbridge and that's got to be a good thing.

"As dramatic as it was it's only the start of a long process, it's going to cause disruption for months to come but I take my hat off to the contractors and our own people for the way they've handled it.

"It's gone well.

"People can see now the difference it will make to the appearance of the town, it was a pretty bad eyesore. It was very tired and ugly. Now that carpark's gone that area is going to be an open view forever."

The car park, once a popular haunt for skateboarders, was reduced to rubble in just over three seconds in a "textbook" explosion according to demolition co-ordinator Billy Young.

More than 120 people were evacuated from nearby homes for safety reasons, a number of whom were treated to breakfast at St Thomas's Church Hall in Stourbridge by developers Bowmer & Kirkland.

Contracts manager Christian Parnell said: "We appreciate a large number of Stourbridge residents have been disrupted by the work that had to be carried out, but we have worked hard to communicate with them as much as possible.

"We would like to thank them and the wider community for their patience so far and assure everyone that we will do all we can to minimise any future disruption."

Almost immediately after the blast workmen began the arduous task of clearing up the 9,000 tonnes of concrete that crashed to the ground. The ring road will remain closed for the rest of the day and is expected to re-open tomorrow (Monday) morning.

Work to clear the rest of the Crown Centre is expected to take until July and construction of a new Tesco superstore will get underway in early 2013 - with a planned opening scheduled for winter next year.