Planning application brings £24m Dudley Interchange another step closer

The development of a new £24 million Dudley transport interchange has taken another step forward with the submission of a final planning application.

Set to be built on the current bus station site, the new Dudley Interchange will link bus services to the tram services on the Black Country Metro extension currently under construction.

As a high-quality gateway for visitors, it will support the regeneration Dudley town centre, as well as offer residents easy public transport access to leisure and work opportunities across the wider West Midlands. The interchange, which will include comfortable waiting areas, real time travel information, space for a retail unit and cycle parking, is being developed by Transport for West Midlands (TfWM), part of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA).

The two-storey building will also feature a distinctive curved roof with solar panels on top to reduce the running costs of the building, together with space for a ‘living green’ roof covering to absorb carbon emissions and, along with the investment in public transport services, support the region’s #WM2041 net-zero carbon ambition.

As well as developing the Interchange, Metro extension and a new cross-city bus priority route serving Dudley, the WMCA is also supporting multi-million pound investments in the town centre including the Portersfield mixed-used development, the Institute of Technology and the Very Light Rail Innovation Centre.

Andy Street, the Mayor of the West Midlands and chair of the WMCA, said: “Recently we saw the first Metro track laid in Dudley town centre and now we are making progress on developing a purpose built transport interchange for the new trams to arrive into.

“We are putting Dudley’s historic lack of connectivity and investment well and truly behind us now, with residents able to look forward to a revamped town centre with first-class public transport.”