Plans submitted for new high street link

A council has submitted plans to transform a patch of gravel into a new greener public space in Bilston.

The proposed new link in Bilston would see a patch of gravel off the town’s High Street, which is currently a temporary home for its outdoor market, filled with plants and trees, new seating and a children’s play area under plans submitted by City of Wolverhampton Council. 

The council’s plans include a ‘tree-lined boulevard’ and space for mobile food trucks as well as a dedicated area for public art, exhibitions, performances and community events. 

The link runs from Bilston town centre, through Pinfold Street car park and across the Black Country Route towards Bert Williams Leisure Centre.

The council said work on the new public space will begin once traders move back to the new outdoor market in the summer. 

Cllr Chris Burden, the council’s cabinet member for city development, jobs and skills, said: “The Bilston High Street Link improvements are part of our wider works to deliver the best for the town.

“We not only want to enhance this public space to create a better environment – but also make it a thriving space for activities, particularly for the young people of Bilston.

“I would like to thank everyone who provided feedback to help us produce the plans for the area.

“It is important for our traditional local centres to flourish, and this scheme builds substantially on the steady pipeline of investment that is delivering for Bilston.”

The land was previously home to a row of derelict shops which were bought by the council and eventually demolished in 2015. 

But while hosting a handful of pop-up events over the years, the patch of gravel has remained largely empty until recently when it became a temporary home for the town’s outdoor market while the existing site was being re-built. 

It has continued as a temporary home while the much-delayed redevelopment of the market continues. 

Last month, the council approved its ‘pride in place’ regeneration plans that will see £20m spent on improving Bilston across the next decade.

The ‘ten-year vision, four-year investment plan’ from the Labour-run authority will see the town’s high street cleaned-up and revamped alongside improvements to parks, green spaces and play areas, improved community facilities, and the return of Bilston Carnival for the first time in 18 years. 

A ‘pride in place’ board, made up of  local community, business and public sector representatives, will be the main decision-making body for the town’s decade-long £20m regeneration plans and it says it will focus on creating a ‘safer, cleaner and vibrant’ Bilston and ensure young people are “actively involved in shaping the town’s future.”

The ‘priority’ work for the next four years, according to the board, has promised an “intense clean up” of Bilston High Street including improvements to lighting, new benches, CCTV, new public art and bollards. 

A new £20m health and wellbeing hub is also set to be built in Bilston, next to the town’s Bert Williams leisure centre, and £9m improvements to the town’s market are set to finally be completed in the summer after long delays. 

Work also continues on the £28m Foundry Business Park which includes 15 new units.