Urban regeneration company in Wolverhampton to be wound up
Wolverhampton City Council and Advantage West Midlands, are to wind up the Wolverhampton Development Company, the local urban regeneration arm, it has been reported.
According to Property Week, the move was prompted by “difficult decisions as regards the level of financial support they are able to give organisations”.
The paper said that the WDC board had come to the view that the only practical course of action was to work towards an orderly completion of the company’s activities.
A firm date for the cessation of operations will be known once the WDC’s financial position is established, which could be “some weeks”.
WDC chairman Graham Mackenzie, chair of the company, said he was disappointed but not surprised, given the public sector deficit, that funding would no longer be available.
He told Property Week: “We believe that the work that the company has done, particularly the studies that have been completed recently, provides a real basis on which Wolverhampton City Council can build a more prosperous future for the city”.
Among the schemes the WDC was involved in were:
- A £37m, 750-unit student village called Victoria Hall
- A £23m interchange scheme providing a new bus station and commercial space
- A £70m hotel and start up business space known as Citygate.
