A FINAL decision about the future of Dudley's mothballed Hippodrome building will be made by the end of the year, the leader of the council has vowed.

Dudley Council is running an ‘expressions of interest’ exercise once again, which will allow interested parties to submit business cases for the fate of the building and/or site.

The authority is inviting people to submit ideas as to how the building – or the cleared site – can be used to benefit the borough.

This latest development in the long-running saga follows a number of failed attempts to resurrect the building over the last few years.

Black Country Hippodrome Ltd were granted a five-year lease to try to save the building in 2016 but were forced to hand the keys back to the council earlier this year after the authority claimed the group had failed to reach key milestones, which were a condition of the lease.

Now, Councillor Patrick Harley, leader of the council, has promised to bring the matter to a conclusion - once and for all.

He said: “We have bent over backwards to make sure that we consider every option for this building, but we cannot allow this to become another town eyesore.

“We are looking for expressions of interest in the site, which must then be backed by a robust business case and financial proposition, in order to make sure we have left no stone unturned in determining the future of this site.

"Ideally, it would be nice for it to be reborn as a theatre or entertainment complex but if that's not the case, there has to be an alternative use.

"We don't live in an ideal world, we have to be realistic."

People or organisations have until August 31 to submit formal offers.

Application forms can be obtained from and completed bids submitted by emailing tony.haddock@dudley.gov.uk