EFFORTS to create a new £24 million Dudley transport interchange have taken another step forward with the submission of a final planning application.

Set to be built on the current bus station site, the new Dudley Interchange will link bus services to the tram services on the Black Country Metro extension currently under construction.

Transport bosses say it will help to regenerate Dudley and offer residents easy public transport access to leisure and work opportunities across the West Midlands.

Being developed by Transport for West Midlands (TfWM), part of West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), it will include comfortable waiting areas, real time travel information, space for a retail unit and cycle parking.

Dudley News: Design of the new Dudley InterchangeDesign of the new Dudley Interchange

The two-storey building will also feature a curved roof with solar panels to reduce running costs, plus space for a ‘living green’ roof covering to absorb carbon emissions to help support the region’s #M2041 net zero carbon ambition.

Andy Street, West Midlands’ Mayor, said: “Recently we saw the first Metro track laid in Dudley town centre and now we are making progress on developing a purpose built transport interchange for the new trams to arrive into.

“We are putting Dudley’s historic lack of connectivity and investment well and truly behind us now.”

Dudley Council leader, Councillor Patrick Harley, said: “I am pleased the interchange is now at full planning stage.

“If plans are approved, the interchange promises to give a huge boost to a tired but albeit busy part of the town and make sure it is central to our regeneration plans.”

Outline planning permission was granted in 2019 to redevelop the existing bus station which was built in 1986 and is the oldest in the region and one of the busiest.

The WMCA Board, working with partners including Dudley Council, last year approved a £24m funding package toward the scheme.