Draft Regulation 18 Sandwell Local Plan
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 strong linear high street form. The High Street itself runs north-west to south-east with a focus on high street 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[172] 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[173].
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 out of 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 emerging Mechanical and Engineering Centre will continue to add to this offer.
10.9 The new Sandwell Civil and Mechanical Engineering Centre (Sandwell MEC) lies on West Bromwich's High Street and is due to be completed in 2023. It is a new technical campus for Sandwell College and will deliver 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) in particular 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 future demand now.
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 a COVID -19 recovery, a masterplan and Interim Planning Statement were produced for West Bromwich. The masterplan will act as 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.
Policy SWB1 - West Bromwich Town Centre
- The strategic priorities for West Bromwich are
- to reinvigorate the town centre;
- to unlock land to aid regeneration;
- to support good quality jobs;
- to stimulate COVID19 recovery;
- to promote the highest standards of sustainable urban design.
- This will be achieved by:
- delivering a significant number of new homes in and around the centre (Policy SWB2) to support the creation of a vibrant, active and sustainable town centre;
- creating a Metro gateway and new town square and promoting a step change in the quality of local places / the public realm;
- delivering mixed use, leisure, commercial and ancillary office growth in sustainable core locations;
- repurposing vacant premises and sites in the centre to deliver community, education and healthcare provision;
- undertaking site assembly and redevelopment to provide land suitable for new markets, education facilities and high-quality housing;
- regenerating the Town Hall Quarter to establish a fully restored cultural and evening / night-time offer in the town centre;
- creating sustainable travel networks across the centre and into surrounding locations;
- providing a green link from the Metro through the heart of the town centre to connect the town centre to Dartmouth Park and Sandwell Valley, including cycling and walking routes across the town centre through to Sandwell Valley;
- providing landscaping, green links, squares, parks and parklets, sustainable travel networks and additional green infrastructure throughout the centre.
- Opportunities for future development in and around West Bromwich will be supported where they help deliver the aims and objectives set out above.
- Areas such as The Lyng may be suitable for high quality, well-designed mixed-use development and investment; should such sites become available through land assembly or allocation during the timescale of the SLP, the Council will support the production of masterplans that demonstrate how sustainable new development could be brought forward in those areas.
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 from the Metro 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 providing 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 for 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 12 - 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 1 sets out a list of projects and proposals designed to support the ongoing regeneration of West Bromwich that were identified in the Masterplan.
Table 11 - West Bromwich Masterplan Projects[174]
|
Zone |
Location |
Indicative land use |
|
1 |
West Bromwich Central Mixed-Use Centre A new multi-purpose town centre and a square at the centre of enhanced linkages and green public realm, with an emphasis on high quality public space and surrounding amenities and encouraging interaction and entertainment. This will include a mixed-use centre with central market square, comprising food and beverage outlets and leisure uses to the north / west, office blocks and residential to the south and education and a multi-storey car park to the east of the central courtyard. |
Retail - 4,502m2, Offices - 5,032 m2 Residential – 343 homes (undiscounted) Education - 5,060 m2 Food and beverage - 11,840 m2 Community / Leisure - 9,862m2 Health - 5,205m2 Parking – 625 parking spaces |
|
2 |
Queens Square Living A centrally-located high-density residential community set within a green park with external parking spaces, office and gym / amenities space at ground level of the northern residential block. Retail blocks with town houses above to the north and east of the square create a well-defined edge with active market streets to the High Street and Queens Street. |
Retail – 7,447m2, Offices - 8,55m2, Residential – 396 homes (undiscounted) Community / Leisure - 1395m2 Car Parking – 206 parking spaces |
|
3 |
Cultural Quarter Main block along High Street adjacent to the Town Hall provides scope for cultural / community spaces with restaurant / food and beverage uses helping to create an active street. This is likely to be brought forward as a Social Housing residential scheme as a social housing provider has acquired this site. The building to the rear facing Edward Street and Lodge Road is proposed as aged living accommodation, set beside a cultural offer. It could also provide a site for a Youth Building / Hub. |
Residential – 52 homes (undiscounted) Food and beverage - 1,054 m2 Community / Leisure - 2,000 m2 Parking – 10 parking spaces |
|
4 |
Urban Pocket Park A new park / route that connects St. Michael Street, the Astle Retail centre and the High Street. Work with key stakeholders and landowners to bring forward future connections and management of spaces. |
Food and beverage - 260m2 Community / Leisure - 1,350m2 Parking – 5 parking spaces |
|
5 |
George Street Living A high-density residential community comprising a series of 3 - 8 storey blocks with landscaped courtyards and amenities. The site is ideally positioned close to Trinity Way Metro and accommodates on-site parking and amenities. |
Residential – 327 homes (undiscounted) Community / Leisure - 1,150m2 Parking – 79 parking spaces |
|
The Lyng |
The Lyng falls under Policy SEC4 (Employment Use). This protects the area from piecemeal development that would prejudice the long-term planning of the area while allowing comprehensive redevelopment of the area for a variety of types of use should viability and relocation issues be resolved. |
New Industrial or Employment uses, housing or other non-ancillary, non-industrial employment uses (criteria apply). |
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:
|
Location |
Indicative land use |
|
George Street Community use - currently laid out as a car park, this is expected to form part of an extended Temple / community facility. |
Gurdwara (Temple) Extension |
|
Providence Place This site is a possible council land disposal. It is in a comparatively tranquil, well-connected location, suitable for residential use. The site is adjacent to a listed building (Highfields) and lies in a Conservation Area. For these reasons the attractive treescape within the site must be preserved, which will constrain the amount of development possible on this site. The site is also suitable for offices, or as a potential expansion site for the existing CBSO School. Its location behind the High Street on a no through road and behind the Expressway makes it a comparatively tranquil well-connected location, also suitable for residential use. |
On this 0.73ha site approximately 0.4ha could be developed, providing capacity for up to 40 apartments (undiscounted). |
|
Overend Street Contains an active builders' merchants and is becoming an incompatible use within the wider residential-led regeneration of the area. Its relocation would free up a well-connected, accessible site suitable for next generation eco homes, building on the established 'Eastern Gateway' scheme. It is considered a priority site. |
Residential - this 0.70ha site could support up to 70 dwellings (undiscounted) in a highly accessible location in 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.
[172] Best Social or Affordable New Housing Development - LABC Awards 2014 (Winner); Best New Affordable Housing Scheme- Housing Excellence Awards 2017 (Shortlisted)
[174] See also Appendix D