Leadership, Vision & Values for a bold new Walsall

Walsall Regeneration Company (WRC) was formed in March 2004 to spearhead urban regeneration within the designated area.

We have the backing of a powerful partnership driven by Walsall Council, Advantage West Midlands and English Partnerships, alongside the private sector and other public sector organizations.

WRC is focused on attracting more than £755 million in public and private sector investment over the next 10 to 15 years - including more than £500 million in the town centre by 2010 - creating 5,550 jobs and reclaiming and/or remediating 174 acres of land.

Working closely with the Council and sponsors, WRC’s main objectives are to:

• Provide a unified vision and framework for regeneration that raises aspirations and makes a real and lasting difference to the economy and people of Walsall - our Prospectus for Growth
• Remove the obstacles and barriers to regeneration and development
• Raise the profile of Walsall regionally and nationally and generate confidence in the town as a place to invest, work and live
• Make a genuine difference by securing commitment from investors, both public and private, through a clear resonance with central Government initiatives for creating sustainable communities and urban renaissance
• Encourage high quality urban design within a framework for sustainable development

A History of Walsall

Look around you from Walsall town centre and two buildings, one new one old, dominate the skyline.

The New Art Gallery Walsall, opened in February 2000.  A world class venue for the millennial arts, it was commissioned by Walsall Council and cost £21 million.

At the town’s highest point, some 511 feet at the top of Church Hill, is the impressive St Matthew’s.  Formerly dedicated as All Saints, a church has overlooked Walsall from this site since the early 13^th century.

Restoration of Walsall’s medieval vistas, part of proposals for the regeneration of the town centre, would provide a visual link between St Matthew’s and the art gallery.

Walsall grew in a cross shape around Church Hill in the Middle Ages.  Before that the town’s history is less certain.

The earliest reference, at the beginning of the 11^th century, speaks of ‘Walesho’, interpreted as ‘home of the woods’.  Another is ‘Wealhs Halh’, but there is certainly no ‘Walsall’ in the Doomesday Book.

Walsall Market was first mentioned in around 1220, so can rightly claim an 800-year history.

Walsall’s early development was as an agricultural centre and market town.

Although there is evidence of some light metalworking in Tudor times, it was the Victorian era and the Industrial Revolution that catapulted it to international acclaim.

The mining locally of coal, iron and limestone saw the economy grow dramatically, with Walsall’s excellent canal links and railway making the movement of heavy goods easy.

The town’s population grew hugely and by the end of the 19^th century Walsall’s pre-eminence in leather goods and saddlery brought it world renown as the ‘Leather Capital of Britain’.  This boom period is celebrated today in exhibits at the Walsall Leather Museum.

While this ‘light’ has faded Walsall has won new fame for its annual festival of light in the Arboretum. Launched as part of the 1951 Festival of Britain, Walsall Illuminations has been attracting large numbers of visitors from around the region and further afield for more than half a century.

Although the town centre was remodelled in the 1960s, Walsall’s economy has been in decline for some time.

The delivery of plans to regenerate Walsall between 2005 and 2015 will see a new more confident town emerging, returning to its position as the leading town in the Black Country and that will fulfil its potential as ‘Walsall – a town for enterprise’.