As part of the Development Consent Order, we are committed to creating and maintaining two community parks, which will be 109 acres in total. A map of the West Midlands Interchange site and where the community parks will be can be found below.

To maximise the benefits of the community parks and ensure that the public welcome them, we held a public consultation, inviting local residents to have their say on what facilities they would like to see in the community parks.

The consultation was held from the 3rd to the 30th April. During the consultation, residents were invited to respond via our website. Local residents who live near the WMI site were mailed a postcard which included a feedback form, which could be filled in and returned to us.

We offered suggestions of facilities that could be included, such as children’s play areas, picnic areas, allotments or sports fields.  We also asked people what they would likely use the community parks for, offering suggestions including exercising, dog walking, meeting people or hosting community events.

To ensure the consultation had maximum reach, we briefed key councillors at South Staffordshire District Council and parish councillors near the WMI site about the consultation. We also offered to meet representatives from local community groups, to provide them with updates on the community parks consultation.

In addition to this, we held a stall at Penkridge Market, a traditional village market with stalls selling food, crafts or antiques. The stall displayed information about WMI, which highlighted the benefits the project will bring to the local area, as well as detailed maps of what WMI will look like. The stall was an opportunity for people in the South Staffordshire area to find out more about the community parks, and respond to the consultation by discussing it with us.

We would like to thank all those who responded to the consultation, especially those who visited our stall at Penkridge Market. We will be announcing the results of the consultation later this year, when we will publish a report with detailed proposals for the design of the parks.

For more information on the community parks, please visit our website. If you would like to be kept updated on the latest developments with West Midlands Interchange, you can sign up to our newsletter by clicking here.