Eyesore West Bromwich site turned into charity car park

The Farley Centre car park just off the ringway in West Bromwich has been taken over by Sheffield-based Bank Park Management, who will give 2.5 per cent of all ticket revenue to The British Heart Foundation.

It comes as the shopping complex which the car park serves was recently sold for more than £1 million.

However, over the past year the area has fallen into a state of disrepair, leaving shoppers disgruntled.

Bosses now hope it will attract more shoppers to the site and new tenants in the currently empty buildings.

Ashley Kelley, managing director of Bank Park Management, said that it would come as part of a regeneration programme for the area. He said: “We are delighted to have been given the opportunity to bring our style of parking to West Bromwich.

“We give 2.5 per cent of gross revenue to charity and the hope is that it will really help the British Heart Foundation who have a furniture store based on the site.

“We will be installing charity bins, new sign posting and also our onsite parking attendant means that there will no longer be litter problems.

“We want to have a strong presence there and be the best car park for shoppers in West Bromwich.”

A spokesperson for Bank Park Management added: “We hope that it will regenerate that area and bring a sense of goodwill to shoppers who will be donating to charity too.”

In December 2015 it was taken over by Sandwell Council as the head leaseholder for the Farley Centre went into receivership six months earlier.

The site had been blighted by rubbish and dumped trolleys since the closure of Morrison’s in March 2015.

The car park became a pay and display under Sandwell Council for a short period of time, before being taken over by Euro Parking.

It had remained free of charge since the head leaseholder for the Farley Centre went into receivership in the spring.

Under the Farley Centre leaseholder, customers were charged £2 for a stay of two hours, but would receive a full refund if spending more than £5 while shopping in Morrisons.

Councillor Bawa Dhallu, who represents the West Bromwich central ward, added: “When the Morrison’s went a lot of litter came onto the car park. It is sad. We need to see a better use for it now.”