Unlawful car park could stay despite council saying it ruins regeneration plans

An unlawful city centre car park could be allowed to stay despite the council saying it stands in the way of its regeneration plans. City of Wolverhampton Council blocked a move that would allow a car park on the corner of School Street and Fold Street in Wolverhampton city centre to remain after it was built without permission at the start of the year.

The local authority’s planners said the car park went against its regeneration plans for the west of Wolverhampton city centre and they wanted to see the original plan for 113 new flats still go ahead. An appeal has now been lodged with the government’s planning inspectors, which have the power to overrule the council, in a bid to get the decision overturned.

The developer said the new flats would still be built in the future but the car park would generate money for the development until “extremely high” construction costs dropped and the economy recovered. The application went on to say that if the council rejected the car park plans, the site would “quickly revert to being a wasteland and eyesore” with “rubbish, needles, rubble and no lights.”

The 24-hour car park was built on land earmarked for 113 flats when plans were approved to demolish Network House and an ageing shopping parade in 2019. The illegal car park sits next to the council’s own 270-space Fold Street car park. Plans to convert the former Beatties car park opposite into new flats were approved in 2022.

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While the buildings were then demolished, a request by the main developer Taylor Grange Developments to extend the planning permission for the proposed flats for a further three years was then approved in 2022. A patch of land was then converted into a private 24-hour car park at the start of the year by Parkit Management, which manages the car park, without planning permission from the council.

A retrospective application - asking to ratify the work that had already been carried out unlawfully - was then rejected by planning officers at City of Wolverhampton Council who said the tarmacked car park was a far cry from the 113 flats originally promised and went against the council’s plans to regenerate the area.

A report outlining the council’s decision against Parkit Management’s application said: “[The plans for 133 flats] made the most efficient use of land and the best design solution to a comprehensive and high-density approach that integrates with existing street patterns and creates new spaces, routes and views which take reference from and enhance the historic characteristics of the wider city area.

“As such the proposal is unacceptable and contrary to the provisions of the approved policies in the development plan.”