Walsall Urban Regeneration Company announces closure

  Walsall’s Urban Regeneration Company has announced it will close following the decision by Advantage West Midlands that it can no longer provide funding. The decision to terminate the Wallsall Regeneration Company was taken at an extraordinary board meeting on Thursday 22 July. WRC was established in 2004 by founding partners Walsall council, Advantage West Midlands and the Homes & Communities Agency in its former guise as English Partnerships with each partner making an equal financial contribution. Following the announcement that AWM could not continue to fund WRC due to the recent decision to abolish it and reduce its current budgets the WRC board said it had concluded it was unable to continue. Until April this year, AWM, Walsall council and government each provided £250,000 funding a year to WRC. This was scaled back to £200,000 a year from April this year. Brian Lowe, WRC chair, said: “WRC has been a key driver of the impressive regeneration of Walsall in recent years; unfortunately the significant cuts in funding by one of our funding partners meant the company was unable to proceed as a going concern. “The board recognise the excellent contribution made by the WRC staff in making a real difference to the pace of regeneration in Walsall. Arrangements are now in hand to close the company and discussions will be had at an appropriate time to ensure WRC’s legacy is safeguarded in the future.” It said that working with its partners, WRC had helped attract more than £400m of investment in the last six years including, in 2004, the TK Maxx distribution centre and the opening of the largest town centre Asda in 2008 – bringing £20m of investment. paul.norman@estatesgazette.com To access all EGi news stories and commercial property data sign up for a free trial today, or visit the subscription options page to find out more.