Bilston Outdoor Market's £5m redevelopment set to get under way
The council said the market will deliver "the absolute best market in the West Midlands" - with more modern, accessible and "vibrant spaces" for traders and the local community.The new market will have better access for pedestrians from the bus and Metro station, a new canopy, new toilets, stall improvements and improved public spaces.
'Challenging ground conditions'
Council leader Stephen Simkins, said that despite the discovery of difficult ground conditions at the market site, the council was "100% committed" to delivering the full scheme as agreed with traders.He said: "Unfortunately, surveys revealed far more challenging ground conditions at the site than we had anticipated, so we have had to re-engineer parts of the project. "This has driven up the cost of the scheme - but I can assure traders we will not compromise on our ambition and will deliver the full scheme exactly as agreed with them."Council bosses have identified additional contingency funds of up to £2.5m to address the re-engineered scheme and other factors.The council also said it will freeze rent costs of the indoor and outdoor market traders and is investing £15,000 in activities and events in and around the indoor market to help drive footfall.Simkins added: "We promised traders they'd be the first to know once we got the timeline of the works, and I met with them face to face first this morning to talk through the plans and let them know how we're supporting them."
Follow BBC Wolverhampton & Black Country on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
North Wales Live
8 minutes ago
- North Wales Live
140 job factory proposal in North Wales submitted to planners
Proposals are in for a major new factory in North Wales that would create 140 jobs. Knauf Insulation is behind the £170m plans for a manufacturing unit at Shotton, Deeside, which would be its second site in the region. It plans to take in 120,000 tonnes of raw materials per year – basalt, slag and recycled rock wool insulation and, using an electric melting furnace, turn that into 100,000 tonnes of rock mineral wool (RMW) insulation. This will then be used in housing and industrial insulation. Knauf has submitted a scoping opinion request to Flintshire council ahead of an Environmental Impact Assessment. Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox The report said: 'The raw materials and recycled materials will be delivered to the site via heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) and stored in designated areas before being milled and reduced in size and combined in specific proportions within the batch plant before being processed and melted. An electric melting furnace will be used to melt the batch and produce molten rock minerals known as 'melt'. The melt is then spun into fibres which are then formed, cured and cooled to produce various RMW insulation forms. 'The RMW is then cut and packaged to meet customer and product requirements.' The new site would include two 70 metre chimney stacks and a third smaller emergency stack. As well as direct jobs on site Knauf has estimated the site will generate around 400 jobs in the wider UK supply chain and generate hundreds of jobs during the construction phase. The company said it will work proactively to provide local employment opportunities and to enable access to training where possible. Neil Hargreaves, managing director of Knauf Insulation Northern Europe, said: 'Knauf Group has a proud history of manufacturing in Wales and this project aligns with the Welsh and UK Government's commitment to sustainability and the industrial vision for North Wales and Deeside. Using UK-first SAF technology, the new factory will produce non-combustible, low embodied carbon, recyclable rock mineral wool insulation to support the need for safer, more energy efficient and sustainable buildings.' Knauf Insulation is the UK's largest insulation manufacturer. Founded in 1979 as a US subsidiary of German building materials giant Knauf Group, the firm employs more than 6,000 people worldwide, including 600 at its three UK manufacturing plants in Cwmbran, St Helens and Queensferry. Ken Skates, cabinet secretary for transport and North Wales, said: 'The plans will be a major investment in the area and are a testament to the skills and facilities we have here.'
The Sun
12 minutes ago
- The Sun
Mortgage guarantee scheme offering 95% loans confirmed in government plans
FIRST-TIME buyers with 5% deposits will continue to get help through a mortgage guarantee scheme, the government has confirmed today. The new scheme will be permanently launched from this month and means first-time buyers can borrow up to 95% of the home price. 1 It replaces the previous Mortgage Guarantee scheme which first launched in 2021 and ended last month. Plans to relaunch the scheme were initially laid out in the Chancellor's Spending Review earlier this month. The move, reiterated in government documents published today, allows buyers to purchase a home across the UK with just a 5% deposit. The government then provides a guarantee to the lender to cover some losses if the buyer cannot repay their mortgage and the property gets repossessed. It is significantly lower than the 10% or 20% deposit many lenders ask buyers to pay when securing a home. For example, if you bought a house for £350,000, you would only need to pay a deposit of £17,500. Someone required to pay a 20% deposit on a property of the same value would have to make a down payment of £70,000. Since the scheme began, over 53,000 mortgages have been completed using it, with a total value of £10.7billion as of December last year. The small deposit mortgage deals were previously popular leading up to the 2008 financial crash but were phased out afterwards. The scheme has been hailed as an accessible way for buyers to get on the ladder. But the larger loan-to-value ratio for the mortgage means buyers will pay higher interest rates when they make repayments. Rachel Reeves FINALLY addresses Commons tears after she and Keir Starmer put on awkward show of unity Peter Stimson, director of mortgages at lender MPowered Mortgages, said the move comes "a year too late". He said: "The mortgage market has changed a lot since Rachel Reeves swept into 11 Downing Street last July. 'The Base Rate has come down by a full percentage point and hundreds of 95% LTV mortgage products are now available. 'Every lender who wanted to offer a 95% loan is probably already doing so. "The Chancellor's announcement is unlikely to make dozens more suddenly follow suit - as the price of entry is unknown and will vary each year." Many lenders are offering their own take on the 95% mortgage. Nationwide just recently launched a 95% mortgage for buyers looking to purchase a new build home. The offer also allows customers to borrow six times their annual income through its Helping Hand scheme. Elsewhere, Skipton Building Society offers a 100% mortgage deal that allows you to buy a home without a deposit. A similar mortgage deal was recently launched by April Mortgages too. ALL CHANGE Mortgages will also be available at over 4.5 times a buyer's income, following recommendations from the Bank of England to loosen lending rules. This will create more than 36,000 additional mortgages for first-time buyers over the first year, the Government said. Britain's biggest building society Nationwide also announced plans last week to make its "Helping Hand" mortgage scheme for first-time buyers available to people on lower incomes. From Wednesday, eligible first-time buyers can apply for Nationwide's Helping Hand mortgage with a £30,000 salary, down from £35,000, and joint applicants with a £50,000 combined salary – down from £55,000. It has been estimated that this will support an additional 10,000 first-time buyers each year. Brian Byrnes, head of Personal Finance at Moneybox, said: "It is encouraging to see steps being taken to support first-time buyers. "Enabling people to borrow more is not a silver bullet. "What first-time buyers truly need is not just the ability to take on more debt, but meaningful, long-term support to help them start saving and investing earlier in life so they can build up that all-important deposit." Elsewhere, plans to cut the tax-free allowance for cash ISAs have been put on hold by the Chancellor, after speculation that reforms to the savings account would also be announced. What help is out there for first-time buyers? GETTING on the property ladder can feel like a daunting task but there are schemes out there to help first-time buyers have their own home. Help to Buy Isa - It's a tax-free savings account where for every £200 you save, the Government will add an extra £50. But there's a maximum limit of £3,000 which is paid to your solicitor when you move. These accounts have now closed to new applicants but those who already hold one have until November 2029 to use it. Help to Buy equity loan - The Government will lend you up to 20% of the home's value - or 40% in London - after you've put down a 5% deposit. The loan is on top of a normal mortgage but it can only be used to buy a new build property. Lifetime Isa - This is another Government scheme that gives anyone aged 18 to 39 the chance to save tax-free and get a bonus of up to £32,000 towards their first home. You can save up to £4,000 a year and the Government will add 25% on top. Shared ownership - Co-owning with a housing association means you can buy a part of the property and pay rent on the remaining amount. You can buy anything from 25% to 75% of the property but you're restricted to specific ones. Mortgage guarantee scheme - The scheme opens to new 95% mortgages from April 19 2021. Applicants can buy their first home with a 5% deposit, it's eligible for homes up to £600,000.
The Sun
13 minutes ago
- The Sun
Major car brand to overhaul popular SUV into ‘completely different car' in bid to keep up with rivals
A MAJOR car brand is giving a huge makeover to one of its most popular cars and it's going to look 'completely different'. The iconic SUV is getting an overhaul as part of the beloved brand's bid to keep up with its rivals. 3 3 Volkswagen is the manufacturer of some of the UK's favourite cars, including the ID 4 SUV. The ID 4 is the company's second electric car, after the ID 3. Now, as the model approaches its fifth anniversary, Volkswagen has decided to give the car a modern makeover. Thomas Schäfer, Volkswagen's CEO, has said that the new version of the car is 'really beautiful'. He added: "We'll re-do the ID 4 completely inside and out. It will be a completely different car - a huge step up." The car manufacturer is hoping to make the ID 4 closely resemble the upcoming ID 1 city cars and ID 2 superminis, which have a futuristic and sleek design. Thomas said that the change is part of a bid for the brand to 'stay competitive' and for the car - which is its 'most important electric vehicle in numbers' - to look like Volkswagen's other designs. According to Autocar, the new version of the vehicle is known as the 'electric Tiguan' in Volkswagen's HQ, though it is unknown if the ID 4 will keep its name. However, Thomas has confirmed that several major cars produced by Volkswagen will keep their names, He said: 'We've decided we're not going to throw away the traditional, successful names that have carried us for so long, that we've invested in for so long, like Golf and Tiguan. 'Why would you let them go?' First launched in 2020, the ID 4 is the fourth best-selling electric car in Europe behind the ID 7 and ID 4. German-owned Volkswagen is keen to become a global leader in EVs and an electric Tiguan is believed to be part of the brand's plan to remain a major player in the market. The electric Tiguan would launch in 2025 or 2026, coinciding with the release of the redesigned ID 4. However, the car manufacturer has not confirmed which aspects of the car will be changed. The American and European variants will share similar designs, while the Chinese equivalents will reflect design trends in China. 3
