Left to Right: Stuart Kirkwood of Advantage West Midlands, MP Liam Byrne and Mark Stapleton of PxP West Midlands at the Hodge Hill site.

Regeneration partnership PxP West Midlands has received planning permission for the first phase of a £35 million development in Hodge Hill, with the potential to create up to 500 new jobs in the area.

The approval paves the way for the redevelopment of a former manufacturing facility on one of the most significant brownfield sites in Birmingham.

With approval for B2 (general industrial) and B8 (storage and distribution) facilities on the site, PxP West Midlands is now actively marketing the 22 acre Wolseley Drive site which lies in a prime position bordering the Heartlands spine road and Bromford Lane, adjacent to M6 Junctions 5 and 6, providing fast access to both the north and south with close links to the M5, M42 and M54.

Having worked closely with the Environment Agency and Birmingham City Council to bring the development forward, PxP West Midlands – which is a Limited Partnership between Advantage West Midlands and Langtree – is delighted to have attained planning for the site just weeks after achieving outline planning permission for the £42 million Brindley Village II regeneration scheme in North Smethwick.

”Hodge Hill is an area of the city which we strongly believe can be positively regenerated to ensure Birmingham’s inner districts boast a wealth of economically strong and vibrant urban communities where people want to live and work for the long term,” commented Mark Stapleton, managing director for PxP West Midlands.
“Hodge Hill has been in the press for all the wrong reasons over recent months and we are pleased to be announcing some positive news for the area.  The planning approval for Wolseley Drive offers the flexibility for distribution, manufacturing or recycling businesses to create new facilities here in a prime location, offering fast access to both Birmingham city centre and the motorway network.

“I am very proud we’ve got the green light to start developing more local land for jobs at Wolseley Drive.”

“With the potential to create as many as 500 new jobs across the entire site, we are confident that any business choosing to locate here will benefit not only from purpose built facilities and having the motorway on the doorstep, but also being positioned amid what we know is a highly skilled local population with a strong work ethic.
Liam Byrne, MP for Hodge Hill and Minister for the Cabinet Office added:  “I am very proud we’ve got the green light to start developing more local land for jobs at Wolseley Drive. We have to fight hard for more jobs in East Birmingham, so it’s excellent news that the government has pushed through plans to get new land ready for more manufacturing.

“Advanced manufacturing has a great future in the Midlands and it brings skilled jobs and better wages.

“In Hodge Hill we have a reputation for great manufacturing and iconic products. That tradition needs backing – not walking away from – in the 21st century.”

Having received planning permission for Wolseley Drive, PxP West Midlands is marketing the site via the Birmingham offices of Colliers CRE and King Sturge.  Interested parties should contact Richard Lawrence (0121 265 7550) or Melissa Wase–Rodgers (0121 214 9952).