From the “Express & Star”, 22nd June 2005
Decision due on tourist hub scheme
Multi-million pound plans to transform Dudley into one of the UK’s biggest tourist hubs through redevelopment of the town’s zoo and castle are set to be approved.
Developer St Modwen has submitted plans for the Castle Hill site which, if agreed, would be one of the largest regeneration projects ever to take place in the town.
Dudley Council’s development control committee will be asked to give outline permission on Monday – with planning officers already recommending approval.
If outline permission is granted it will be the first hurdle crossed in getting final approval for the plans.
Alongside redevelopment of the zoo and castle are plans to build shops, restaurants, a fitness club, motel, pub and houses on unused land between Castle Hill, Tipton Road and Birmingham New Road.
St Modwen was forced to change its original plans for the site after complaints from conservation groups about the number of developments on Castle Hill.
The zoo will be split into five climatic zones: aquatic, Asiatic, tropical islands and tropical forest, with the animals housed in the appropriate areas.
An exhibition focusing on sieges at the castle will be incorporated within an existing exhibition area and the Origins exhibition, detailing the geological history of the town, has been scaled back.
From the “Express & Star”, 23rd June 2005
£100m revamp boost for zoo
The Black Country could get its own mini version of Cornwall's Eden Project at Dudley Zoo under updated plans for a £100 million tourism zone. The dome is among the latest proposals by developer St Modwen to turn Castle Hill, the site of Dudley Zoo and Castle, into a major tourist centre, creating up to 1,000 jobs.
But the number of homes planned for land surrounding the zoo has been cut from 281 to 65 following an outcry over development planned for Peggy's Meadow nature conservation area.
The plans would see a smaller scale version of the pioneering Cornish project created in the zoo grounds, creating a tropical-style hot house. Plants and flowers from across the globe would be grown in the biosphere allowing visitors to journey through different climates and zones.
Members of Dudley Council's development control committee will decide whether to grant outline permission to the plan at a meeting on Monday. Other plans include a two-storey orang-utan house and a recreation of what it was to live at Dudley Castle during a siege.
An underground cavern at Castle Hill could also be turned into a museum portraying a history of Dudley from primitive times to the industrial age through minerals unearthed in the town.
There are also plans for shops, restaurants, a fitness club, motel and pub on land surrounding the zoo and castle. Older parts of the zoo, including Grade-II listed Tecton enclosures, would also be redeveloped.
Zoo chief executive Peter Suddock said the plans coming before the council were the result of years of planning between the zoo, St Modwen and English Heritage.