Sandwell Local Plan - Reg 19 Publication

10. West Bromwich

West Bromwich

10.1 West Bromwich, as designated on the Policies Map and shown on Figure 16, is the third largest centre in the Black Country. It is the focus for a wide range of civic, retail, cultural and leisure functions. The centre is organised around a strongly linear high street form. The high street itself runs north-west to south-east with a focus on retail activity along the Princess Parade / Duchess Parade section, which is enclosed by the West Bromwich Ringway. It is in a highly accessible location via a range of public transport options including rail, metro and bus services; users of the Metro can reach Birmingham city centre in 15 minutes and buses run between West Bromwich and the other towns in Sandwell on a regular basis.

10.2 The SLP supports the diversification, repurposing and rejuvenation of the strategic centre, with it being the focus for a well-balanced mix of residential, leisure, commercial, business and service uses. Changing shopping patterns and challenges to the high street will be addressed through increased flexibility and facilitating the consolidation of the shopping core (particularly to reduce vacancy rates), complemented by surrounding mixed uses, and supported by maximising residential provision in all locations (including the use of upper floors).

10.3 The West Bromwich Masterplan states the aspirations for the centre of the town as,

A mixed-use centre with central market square at its heart and comprising food and beverage and leisure blocks to the North / West, office blocks and residential to the South and education and multi-storey car park to the East of central courtyard.

10.4 The future of the centre, as with most strategic centres across the Black Country, is dependent on reducing reliance on retail to generate footfall and generating alternative uses (potentially mixed uses) that function both during the day and into the evening.

Background

10.5 West Bromwich is the largest town, by population size and by area, in the borough, giving it the lowest population density. It includes the main commercial and retail centre of Sandwell. Its housing markets include older terraced housing in the town centre, extensive council-built neighbourhoods to the north and the more affluent suburban Great Barr area. The town also has one of the most successful new residential developments in the Midlands at the Lyng – the Urban 180 / Eastern Gateway area is an award winning^[217] social housing scheme. West Bromwich has the second oldest age profile in Sandwell with 16.6% of its population aged over 65. It has the second highest number of jobs at 36,400 and has experienced 6% employment growth since 2012. Its 2,430 businesses have experienced similar growth^[218].

10.6 West Bromwich is also the strategic centre for Sandwell and as such is the focus for major investment opportunities for retail, commercial, leisure and educational uses. The town centre has excellent accessibility to the motorway network with Junction 1 M5 within 1.5km providing access to the M6. Within the town, sustainable travel options are provided by a bus station, the Midland Metro providing access in 15 minutes to both Wolverhampton and Birmingham via five stops within the regeneration area boundary and excellent pedestrian and cycle links to and through the area.

10.7 Traditionally the High Street was at the core of the town. However, there has been a shift towards increased activity within the New Square development, built ten years ago. With anchor stores Tesco Extra and Primark, a selection of food and beverage offers and a cinema, this became the more popular shopping and leisure destination. This led to a decline in the quality and quantity of shops in the High Street. Further relocations away from Queens Square, one of the town's key precincts, have also contributed to the overall perception of decline. Conversely, Kings Square continues to trade well.

10.8 Education provision in the town continues to grow. Sandwell College and Central Sixth have been resident for some years and moving into the town has resulted in some of the vibrancy, lost in previous years, being regained with the additional student footfall. Furthermore, Shireland University Technical College and the Central St Michaels Sandwell Science, Engineering & Manufacturing Centre will continue to add to this offer.

10.9 The Central St Michaels Sandwell Science, Engineering & Manufacturing Centre lies on West Bromwich's High Street and opened in September 2023. It is a new technical campus for Sandwell College and is delivering opportunities in engineering, advanced manufacturing, civil engineering, construction and hybrid electric vehicles for adults and young people. The new facility will provide programmes for the unemployed as well as reskilling the workforce through Apprenticeships Standards and other technical and professional qualifications.

10.10 Recent years have seen a change in shopping habits. Even prior to the COVID pandemic, retail centres were struggling with increasing rents and business rates, competition from out-of-town retail complexes and an increase in online shopping with the loss of comparison retail (i.e., clothes, shoes, electrical goods) to the internet. The pandemic only served to exacerbate the situation, with many of the high street names switching to online shopping only, removing their presence from the High Street.

10.11 National permitted development rights have also changed considerably, allowing for offices to be converted to residential uses without needing planning permission. Changes in technology have allowed for more people to work from home or adopt flexible working patterns (especially during the pandemic). This has led to reduced demand for offices in centres, with levels of demand remaining below pre-pandemic levels (2024).

10.12 A side effect of the above has been the adverse impact on service sectors dependent on high footfall in West Bromwich and elsewhere and supported in part by office-based workers, such as food and drink sales, convenience retailing and smaller service industries.

West Bromwich Town Centre

10.13 To aid regeneration of the centre and stimulate post-pandemic recovery, a masterplan and Interim Planning Statement were produced for West Bromwich. The masterplan is a catalyst for on-going and new regeneration schemes – unlocking further investment and opportunities to boost the town's future economic growth and fostering, promoting and supporting strong urban design principles throughout those interventions. The interim planning statement was designed to provide updated planning advice for development following changes to national planning legislation over time. The guidance offered in the statement has now been incorporated into these policies. An extract from the Masterplan showing the main locations for new development can be found in Appendix D.

10.14 The Masterplan and Interim Planning Statement were approved by Cabinet in February 2022 and set out an ambitious programme of development opportunities to reinvigorate the town, helping to deliver new jobs, a more resilient centre and reinventing its function as the strategic centre.

10.15 To support these proposals, £25m was awarded from the national Towns Fund to progress various projects within the town including retail diversification, cultural, educational and urban greening schemes.

Justification

10.16 The transformational change proposed for West Bromwich will see the redevelopment of some existing uses and the relocation of the indoor market to a new unit providing links directly to the High Street. The main reconfiguration will involve legacy retail and vacant sites and is intended to create a mix of high-quality leisure uses, encouraging people to alight from the Metro and move into the centre of the town and onto New Square.

10.17 New homes will be introduced to increase sustainable town centre living and increase natural surveillance throughout the day and evening. Opportunities to promote more leisure and night-time uses will be available for selected sites and the town will continue to support further educational uses where there is a demand. This mix of uses will help to create a vibrant, sustainable and inclusive community that is accessible to, and provides for, all age groups.

10.18 A network of green spaces, new connections and improved public realm will connect the old with the new, linked to the cultural quarter near the Town Hall, through the High Street and through to Dartmouth Park. Cycle routes are to be extended east to west and north to south to further strengthen connectivity and access across the town centre and beyond.

10.19 The Strategic Centre benefited from an Area Action Plan (AAP) that was adopted in 2011. Until the local plan review is completed, all AAP policies remain relevant to proposals within the boundary of West Bromwich Strategic Centre.

10.20 The masterplan is intended to act as a catalyst for on-going and new regeneration schemes for West Bromwich – unlocking further investment and opportunities to boost the town's future economic growth. The masterplan strengthens the links between the town centre and adjoining areas such as the Cultural Quarter and Dartmouth Park / Sandwell Valley by creating strategically connected functional and active zones with playful street furniture, public art and art trails connecting spaces along the routes. The masterplan builds on the Towns Investment Plan for West Bromwich, which successfully bid for £25 million to reinvigorate the town, underpinned by strong urban design principles.

10.21 The housing capacity for West Bromwich is based on existing permissions, but also includes an estimated uplift based on more recent evidence, including the Black Country Centres study and estimated capacity identified in the West Bromwich Interim Planning Statement and Master Plan.

Delivering the Strategy

10.22 This strategy will be delivered by the allocation of sites and implementation of policies in this Plan across the administrative area to accommodate housing and employment development.

Figure 13 - West Bromwich Town Centre

Regeneration in West Bromwich

10.23 The re-energising and repurposing of West Bromwich is of fundamental importance to the regeneration of Sandwell and the wider Black Country. It is one of the main drivers of the Black Country's economy and supports one of the main hubs of the sub-regional transport network. It is a sustainable location and is well-placed to provide the community with easy access to comparison shopping, leisure, entertainment and cultural facilities and office-based employment.             

10.24 Table 11 sets out a list of projects and proposals designed to support the ongoing regeneration of West Bromwich that were identified in the Masterplan.

Table 13 - West Bromwich Masterplan Projects^[219]

10.25 In addition to those proposals identified in the Masterplan, there are several sites that also remain a priority in terms of their value to the ongoing revitalisation of the strategic centre:

Environment and climate change

10.26 In line with the Council's Climate Change Strategy, a local heat network for West Bromwich is at Commercialisation stage. This is part of the strategy towards achieving carbon neutrality for Sandwell Council buildings and operations by 2030 and for the borough by 2041.

10.27 Other heat networks are being explored, albeit these are currently at an initial stage. General 'greening' of the centre, via landscaping and other environmental enhancements is proposed, with improved links to Dartmouth Park and Sandwell Valley.

10.28 As part of the above, the central area will have more meet-and-greet areas to foster non-transactional interactions and drive footfall, thus bolstering a reduced but viable amount of retail and other centre uses.

Sandwell Valley

10.29 The Council will investigate opportunities for utilising Sandwell Valley for leisure and tourism through the Cultural Strategy, whilst respecting its green belt status and the other nature conservation allocations it contains.

Development in West Bromwich

10.30 The Centres Study undertaken for the BCP, and its addendums, were informed by a Household Survey that identified changes in shopping patterns, especially the continued growth of online shopping. The health checks recognised that West Bromwich is facing several challenges – particularly in relation to relatively high vacancy rates.

10.31 The commercial market across all sectors, but particularly affecting the traditional High Street, has materially evolved and changed.

Justification

10.32 A more pragmatic and flexible approach needs to be undertaken in addressing the future growth of West Bromwich, which does not necessarily place sole emphasis on the retail sector. Rather, this approach allows for greater emphasis on services, communal or civic uses, and incorporates qualitative enhancements to the existing provision. It also supports a mix of uses in relation to new development, including consideration for different types including the concurrent^[220], meanwhile^[221] and co-operative uses of units. This means it is essential to provide appropriate flexibility to enable the centre to diversify and be re-purposed to ensure its future vitality and viability is maintained and enhanced. This includes prioritising high-quality public realm including the provision of high-quality open spaces, green infrastructure, pedestrian and cycle networks and electric vehicle charging points.

10.33 Current evidence shows there is no capacity to support additional retail and office floorspace; it would not therefore be appropriate to include specific formal targets for different uses in policy except where indicated by the West Bromwich Masterplan.

10.34 Planning decisions should be informed by the latest available evidence, and the Council will seek to remodel capacity, particularly for retail, periodically in the future. The emphasis therefore is on the consolidation of core areas, as opposed to expansion or identifying larger comprehensive development at in-centre or edge-of-centre sites, with any future potential for new floorspace likely to be met through infill development, reuse / reconfiguration of vacant units, change of use applications and / or extensions to existing stores.

10.35 It is important that any new large-scale commercial and public leisure provision is focussed on West Bromwich, to encourage linked trips, enhance the evening economy and diversify the experiential nature of the centre.

10.36 Changing working patterns, including an increase in agile and flexible working, means that future office environments are likely to be configured differently. Future office provision is likely to be predominantly market-led. West Bromwich remains an important place of work, with office workers making a positive contribution towards ensuring vitality and viability.

10.37 The Masterplan and West Bromwich inset plan identify potential office sites, particularly as part of mixed-use development. This will ensure sites are available for office development when demand re-emerges whilst ensuring other appropriate uses can also come forward.

10.38 City living and residential development in centres is likely to be a growth area over the plan period and will make a positive contribution to regeneration, particularly as a part of mixed-use development and upper floor living. Residential provision should therefore be maximised to facilitate the centre as an important place to live, supporting a resident population and local service provision. Planning decisions will be informed by the indicative residential locations in the Masterplan and inset allocations; the principles of good urban design must be applied to all schemes.

10.39 Housing and employment allocations will be served by the existing network of centres. The fragility of centres and the challenges in ensuring their vitality and viability mean it is important to have robust tests for new proposals within 300m of a relevant boundary, as set out in Policy SCE6.

10.40 West Bromwich is accessible by a variety of means of transport, particularly walking, cycling, the Metro and buses. Relevant in-centre and edge-of-centre development will contribute to sustainability and encourage a modal shift in transport towards public transport, cycling and walking and reduce the need to travel.

10.41 The strategic centre boundary is identified on the Policies Map. It is used for determining what is in and out-of-scope in terms of proposals.