Second developer expresses i54 interest
A second potential developer has come forward for Wolverhampton's planned £67m i54 business park.
A second potential developer has come forward for Wolverhampton's planned £67m i54 business park.
The identity of the business is being kept secret while discussions take place but a decision in due within eight weeks.
Council leader Neville Patten today hailed the discussions as a big step forward for the scheme, hoped to bring 6,000 jobs to Wolverhampton.
So far only historic aerospace company GE Aviation is known to be interested in being the first firm to move onto i54 business park in Wobaston Road.
US engineering group Moog, which has just bought the former Boulton Paul factory in Fordhouses, Wolverhampton, plans to move it to a new purpose-built factory within three years.
GE Aviation senior executives have talked to Wolverhampton City Council interim chief executive Steve Boyes about a possible move to i54.
Regional development agency Advantage West Midlands is turning 237 acres of previously polluted and derelict land into a hi-tech business park employing up to 6,000 people.
Sealing a deal with Moog would be the jumpstart needed by both the city council and AWM, which has stuck to its plan of finding a manufacturing company as the key tenant on the site. But hopes were boosted further by news that a second company is also in the running.
Mark Foley, partnership director at Advantage West Midlands, said: "The partners involved in i54 are currently in discussions with two potential occupiers, the discussions are in their early stages and we expect a decision by the end of March.
"Due to the commercial confidentiality of these discussions we are unable to disclose any further details about the companies concerned." Wolverhampton City Council leader Neville Patten said: "I am glad that developers are starting to come forward because the i54 is in the perfect place for them, right by the M54 motorway.
"We want it to be able to give jobs to Wolverhampton people and these discussions mark a big step forward."
Controversial roadworks are also planned for the area around the i54 including the replacement of the Vine Island with traffic lights and extra lights and lanes along Wobaston Road.
Critics say the work will impede the flow of traffic and that they are premature because it is not known what types of business will want to move onto the i54.