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Regeneration deal agreed for former Longbridge car plant

The West Works site at the former MG Rover car plant in Longbridge, Birmingham is to finally be regenerated following a £6m investment package from the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA).

The deal between the WMCA and property developer St. Modwen, means the land can now be cleaned up, essential infrastructure provided and the site made ready for the construction of 350 new homes and 900,000sqft of commercial floorspace, creating up to 5,000 jobs.

St. Modwen has already overseen the regeneration of around half the wider Longbridge works which it bought in 2003, but the West Works site has remained a major missing piece in the area’s regeneration jigsaw.

Once finished, the £1bn transformation of the entire former car plant is expected to have created up to 4,000 new homes, 2m sqft of commercial development and 10,000 jobs, transforming Longbridge into a modern, attractive environment in which to live and work.

‘The closure of Longbridge’s MG Rover Plant in 2005 was one of the darkest days in the history of the West Midlands, and one that symbolised our region’s economic decline in what were supposed to be the country’s economic “boom” years under Tony Blair,’ said West Midlands mayor, Andy Street.

‘Having spent some time growing up in Northfield I know just how iconic the site is, and I know that for 15 years now people have waited for its regeneration to finally heal one of our biggest, and most painful, economic scars. That is why I am delighted that the WMCA has been able to step in and help unlock this major part of the site for development.

‘Over the past four years one of the real strengths of the West Midlands has been using Government money to clean up derelict industrial land to pave the way for development, and industrial land doesn’t come much bigger or more iconic than the Longbridge West Works.

‘Now instead of looking back over 15 years of pain, we can look forward to the thousands of new jobs, commercial premises, and hundreds of homes that will be coming to Longbridge,’ he added.

Photo Credit – WMCA

Jamie Hailstone
Senior reporter - NewStart

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