New car park for Black Country Living Museum expansion
A new car park will be built at the Black Country Living Museum as part of its bid to attract thousands more visitors in the coming years through a multi-million pound expansion.
Extra spaces will be created at the attraction following a land swap deal with Dudley Council.
Museum bosses have been keen to free up more room in order to provide extra space for vehicles at the popular attraction which is set for major growth over the next decade.
Council bosses have agreed to hand over the land to allow the car park plan to go ahead.
In return, the museum will give the council a 1.5 acre patch of land it owns near to the recently approved Very Light Rail development and close to where the extension to the Metro line from Wednesbury to Brierley Hill will run.
The Black Country Living Museum is hoping to attract an extra 200,000 visitors a year once its expansion is complete.
The £10 million project will see the museum grow in size by about a third and involve the creation of a new post-war town.
Several iconic buildings, including the old West Bromwich Gas Showroom and Dudley’s Woodside Library, will be rebuilt there.
Dudley Council leader Patrick Harley said: “We feel that this is a move that is not only beneficial for both parties, but also for Dudley as a whole.
“It will allow the museum to build a big overflow car park for all the extra people they will be bringing into the town as a result of their expansion plans.
“It also gives us in return a piece of land close by to two very exciting developments we have planned ourselves, in the shape of Very Light Rail and the Metro.
“It’s important we all work together to try and make Dudley a better place, and this is a good example of partnership in action.”
Around 100 jobs are expected to be created by the museum expansion, which is being backed by Heritage Lottery funding.
The land-swap deal is expected to be rubber-stamped at a meeting of Dudley Council’s cabinet on Wednesday.
