Major investment is set to fund transformation

Major investment is set to fund transformation
 
Education facilities, housing and redevelopment all on the cards for Sandwell
 
 
Hundreds of millions of pounds is to be pumped into Sandwell in the coming years with major investment ring fenced for housing, education and redevelopment.
 
Two of the more recent schemes to make waves in the borough include the £100 million retail complex in the heart of Oldbury and £60 million project to redevelop Sandwell Library.
 
Earlier this year planning bosses gave the go-ahead for the junction – a project that will breath new life into shopping at Oldbury.
 
The 15-acre development, which will be next to Sandwell Council House, will boast football pitches, two medium sized DIY units, an ice rink as well as other shops. Several homes and factory buildings have been bulldozed on derelict land to make way for the complex which could create around 1,750 jobs.
Councillor Bob Badham, Sandwell’s cabinet member for regeneration said “I welcome the fact that this important scheme is getting off the ground. It has been through a public inquiry and I believe that the scheme as now proposed, is in keeping with the spirit of the original development and an improvement upon it.”
 
Ian Harris, director of development at The Junction, added. “The Junction Oldbury Shopping Park will link into the town centre, significantly improving the retail and leisure offer in Oldbury, and creating considerable employment, economic and social benefits for the community.
 
“The re-submission for planning consideration was in response to changes in the national retail market, and our planned amendments support the deliverability of this exciting proposal for Oldbury”
 
Also celebrating this year were proud bosses at Sandwell College who unveiled plans for a new £60 million state-of-the-art campus. The centre, destined for the corner of Spon Lane and West Bromwich Ringway, is set to replace the college’s three existing campuses in Oldbury. Smethwick, and West Bromwich High Street in September 2010. Mike Bailey, former-college board of governors chairman, said the single site for the college would not only update learning facilities for people of all ages, but improve the borough as a whole.
 
“What we want is a college that’s fit for the 21t Century” he said. Not just for2010 when we hope that the college will be finished but a college that we hope will be sustainable and adaptable for the decades to come.”
 
Mr Bailey said the three sites were “not fit for purpose” and it would be great to be able to move into new buildings right away. However, he said closing existing campuses in the summer of 2010 and moving for the start of the new academic year that autumn seemed realistic.
 
Architect Mr Herbert said the colleges proposed site currently occupied by car parks next to the metro tracks was an ideal place. “There are long and distant views to the site which means that a tall building, or a relatively tall building, will be high visibility” he said “What we want is something dramatic”
“What we are about is changing perceptions of what education and training is”
 
Karen Walker of Sandwell Regeneration agency Regenco, said plans marked the commencement of a £300 million transformation of West Bromwich town centre.