City of Wolverhampton Council has approved an outline planning application for the site of its Culwell Street depot to facilitate the first phase of the transformational Brewers Yard city centre living regeneration masterplan.

The council’s fleet services will relocate from the depot to a new base on Hickman Avenue alongside the city’s wholesale market, with construction to start on its major revamp next year, subject to full planning approval.

Funding from the Towns Fund, West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and the Council will help to relocate services and demolish buildings on the Culwell Street site so the city centre brownfield land can be remediated and made ready for the development of almost 600 new apartments in the coming years – creating hundreds of construction jobs.

Ultimately, the aspiration is for Brewers Yard to extend wider and provide a total of around 1,000 homes.

City of Wolverhampton Council Acting Leader and Cabinet Member for Inclusive City Economy, Councillor Stephen Simkins, said: “This is an important step in delivering Brewers Yard for the City of Wolverhampton – one of the biggest game-changing schemes in the region.

“In the coming years phase one will deliver top-quality living at the heart of our city, with connectivity to state-of-the-art transport facilities.

“It will create easy access to a re-invented city centre providing a great leisure and sporting offer, a vibrant public events programme, outstanding arts and culture offer, and a thriving commercial district with well-paid jobs.

“The proposed relocation of our fleet services operation will make them more efficient and the redevelopment of the Hickman Avenue site will provide a major uplift to the city’s wholesale market.

“It is all part of the multi-billion-pound investment in the City of Wolverhampton that is also delivering jobs and opportunities for local people of all ages.”

Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands and WMCA Chair, said: “Brewers Yard has a key role to play in the on-going regeneration of Wolverhampton city centre which is why the WMCA has already invested more than £5m into delivering this first enabling phase of the development.

“The scheme will breathe fresh life into the area providing affordable, energy efficient new homes and hundreds of jobs for local people. It’s a great example of how the WMCA is working with Wolverhampton and other local councils to unlock and transform brownfield urban sites to help drive economic growth while protecting our precious green belt.”

Once all the land is unlocked for housing the completed scheme will see a mixture of houses and apartments, and new retail and commercial space.

The development will also sit just a few hundred metres from the city’s new transport Interchange, providing quick, direct access to Birmingham, London and Manchester.

Image caption: A computer generated image of what the Brewers Yard first phase could like