MILLIONS of pounds are set to be poured into regenerating run-down parts of Dudley town centre.

Dudley Council bosses have today launched a £41million bid to the West Midlands Combined Authority and the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to help fund various developments in the Cavendish quarter of the town which they hope will boost transport, retail and tourism.

The money will support an £81m redevelopment scheme which will see Cavendish House flattened and replaced with a brand new retail and leisure complex and £16m plans into a major overhaul of the town’s bus station to include a new Metro interchange.

There are also plans to improve access to the visitor attractions at Castle Hill, including Dudley Zoo, The Black Country Living Museum and Dudley Museum and Archives.

Dudley News:

West Midlands Mayor Andy Street was invited for a whistle stop tour of the town centre this morning (Tuesday, September 19) to see for himself how the combined authority’s investment would transform the fortunes of the area.

Mr Street, who expects the proposed Midlands Metro service to be arriving into the borough by 2022, told the News: “What Dudley Council are trying to do is visionary.

“We’ve already seen some improvements in Dudley over the last few years, but what the council are now putting forwards really leaps that on.

Dudley News:

“It’s a combination of commercial developments – bringing in the private sector – more public realm improvements, improvements to the transport and improvements to the education sector through the college; so it’s a total visionary change.

“The critical thing about Dudley’s regeneration plans is that they all come together. It’s not about each individual one being exciting in their own right, but that they come together to bring about the complete transformation of Dudley town centre.

“One thing that will have an enormous impact is actually making the Metro happen. That will mean the residents of Dudley will be able to travel across the West Midlands to jobs and leisure activities which will really transform their lives.

“In the case of the other Dudley town centre developments, that is actually funding from the combined authority’s land remediation fund, so they will actually decide on that money.”

Dudley News:

If the council successfully secures the funding, it will be used to support a number of key regeneration projects in the town centre including a leisure, retail and residential redevelopment of the Cavendish House site.

The funds will lever in an additional £100million in match-funding and private sector investment.

Cllr Patrick Harley, leader of Dudley Council, is confident the council will secure the funding it requires to breathe new life into the town centre.

“I think we are very close to getting these regeneration plans up and running,” he said. “It’s now about confirming the route of the Metro to satisfy the developer for the Cavendish quarter.

Dudley News:

“Once that is confirmed, a planning application goes in and then we start the process of the soft demolition of the ‘monstrosity’ behind us which is Cavendish House.

“Then once we’ve demolished that building, the people of Dudley will really see that things are actually happening instead of just talking about it.

“With all the investment and redevelopment of this part of the town, plus the introduction of Metro – which is a massive game-changer to the borough – then rather than people saying Dudley has seen better days, I think they’ll be saying our better days are ahead of us.”