Rubber stamp for £15m council fleet facility
Demolition work on a former Wolverhampton warehouse is expected to begin later this year, after plans to build a new home for the city council’s fleet of gritters and bin lorries were approved.
City of Wolverhampton Council granted planning permission for it’s own application for the site on Hickman Avenue this week, having lodged a planning application in May last year.
According to a construction tender document published last year, work on the scheme is expected to begin in June, and last for around 12 months.
When completed, the council’s fleet services depot will relocate from its current Culwell Street home in the city centre to pave the way for hundreds of new homes as part of the Brewers Yard regeneration masterplan.
The new Hickman Avenue site will also become home to the council’s taxi licensing operation as it moves from its base at the former Loxdale Primary School, which is also earmarked for housing development.
Councillor Bhupinder Gakhal, City of Wolverhampton Council Cabinet Member for Resident Services, said: “Planning approval now enables us to push forward with the development of a new purpose-built depot that will enable the relocation of important council services to a more suitable base.
“The Hickman Avenue redevelopment will ultimately ensure the sustainability of essential frontline services by consolidating, rationalising and optimising our operations. It will lead to reduced energy costs and asset maintenance and support the transition of the council’s combustion engine fleet to EV.”
Early enabling works at Hickman Avenue last year saw unused ancillary buildings demolished, ground investigations carried out and two mineshafts remediated.
Separate planning approval is already in place to demolish existing buildings at the Culwell Street depot site and remediate the brownfield land to make it ready for the development of hundreds of new homes as part of the Brewers Yard scheme in the coming years.
Councillor Chris Burden, City of Wolverhampton Council Cabinet Member for City Development, Jobs and Skills, added: “As well as rationalising the council’s estate, this is also a critical step in bringing forward the regeneration of a strategically important brownfield site through the Brewers Yard scheme to deliver huge benefits in terms of jobs, investment and homes that will help rejuvenate our city centre.”
Plans and documents relating to the application can be found on the city council’s planning portal using reference: 25/00594/FUL
