Supermarket regeneration plan takes a step forward

If plans are approved, the development is expected to be ready by spring 2029

Plans to transform a former supermarket into hundreds of new homes have taken another step forward.

The development, at the former Sainsbury's site in Wolverhampton, is expected to include 370 new homes, community spaces and green streets, centred around the Grade II-listed St George's Church.

City of Wolverhampton Council's cabinet has agreed to continue work on the scheme with developers Capital&Centric.

Following the submission of a full planning application, the local authority is expecting planning approval by September next year, with work ready to begin in November.

The development is expected to take about two and a half years to complete, with the site ready by spring 2029.

The former Sainsbury's at St George's closed in 2014 when a new £60m supermarket opened half a mile away in Raglan Street.

The council bought the freehold for the St George's site in 2016 but it was deemed "surplus to requirements'" in a cabinet report in 2023, alongside a request for potential bids from developers.

Sainsbury's lease on the site expired in March which returned the ownership and responsibility of the site back, and the management of the car park's lease, to the local authority.

Capital&Centric has been working with City of Wolverhampton Council on designs to turn the five-acres of land at St George's into a new neighbourhood.

It will feature shops, workspaces and commercial space and would link to the £61m City Learning Quarter which is set to open this autumn.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, which covers councils and other public service organisations.