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Bradford Street Heritage Economic Regeneration Scheme

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Bradford street building

The success of the Walsall CAP and the Willenhall HERS led to further bids for similar schemes, resulting in the Bradford Street Heritage Economic Regeneration Scheme (HERS). This was a partnership scheme between English Heritage, Walsall Council, and Advantage West Midlands. This scheme started in January 2002, after English Heritage invited Walsall Council to bid for the scheme in January 2001. A total of £700,000 for the three years was secured from the various funding partners for this scheme.

The Bradford Street area lies on the edge of the Walsall Town Centre, with Bradford Street extending southwards from the main shopping area, and performing the role of the main southern gateway to the centre. The buildings on the two sides of Bradford Street reflect the street's historical development, with the eastern side predominantly dating from the early Nineteenth century, and the western side dating in the main from the late Nineteenth Century. It was the older eastern side that was identified as the priority for this scheme, due to its architectural heritage, and to its level of vacancy and physical dilapidation.

The principal regeneration aim for the proposed conservation scheme was to bring tangible and economic benefits to this historic and prominent part of the town-centre, and to its immediate residential hinterland. The objective was for the scheme to integrate with, and maximise the opportunities offered by other regeneration initiatives underway in the town-centre and neighbouring SRB areas.

The proposed scheme would also compliment physical improvement works the council had already undertaken in the Bradford Street/ Caldmore Road Zone, such as the security and lighting improvements to the public car-parks between Bradford Street and Mountrath Street immediately to the east of Bradford Street.

As with all of these schemes, the conditions of grants include the use of high quality traditional materials, and a high quality of workmanship. For this reason, the grant percentages were high, with building repair grants being offered at 80% of eligible works and the reinstatement of traditional style shop-fronts offered at 100%.