Is West Bromwich Regenerated — Or Just Better Lit?

Is West Bromwich Regenerated — Or Just Better Lit?

Tomorrow (24th February), the West Bromwich Town Deal Board meets again.

Behind closed virtual doors.

Public money.
Private meeting.

You can view the carefully curated paperwork here:
https://sandwell.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?MId=7521&x=1

But don’t expect public questions.
This isn’t Britain’s Got Transparency.

📈 “FOOTFALL HAS DOUBLED!”

We’re told the new Indoor Market saw:

176,901 visitors (Aug–Dec 2024)
331,711 visitors (Aug–Dec 2025)

Nearly double.

Now here’s the bit missing from the victory parade:

The 2024 site was half-empty, tired, and waiting for demolition.

If you replace a tired building with a shiny new one and launch it with fanfare, people will walk in.

That’s not economic magic. That’s gravity.

The real question is:

Have traders’ incomes doubled?
Has vacancy across the town fallen?
Has private investment followed?

Or have we created a very nice, publicly subsidised footfall bubble?

🎤 THE “FREE ENTERTAINMENT” ECONOMY

We’ve had:

Pop-ups.
Cultural programming.
Workshops.
Events.
Activation.
Engagement.
Vibes.

And it’s all “free”. Except it isn’t.

Because when performers are paid,
security is paid,
marketing is paid,
production is paid,
coordinators are paid…

It’s not free. It’s publicly funded.

Town Deal funding.
Council budgets.
Arts Council grants.
Ward grants.

Layered subsidy.

Yet nowhere in the public papers is there a simple table showing:

Event | Cost | Attendance | Cost per head | Economic uplift

Strange that.

🏗 99% SPENT!

We’re told 99% of the £25m has been spent.

Excellent accounting.

But regeneration isn’t about spending the money. It’s about what happens when the subsidy stops.

What happens when the DJ abd band goes home?
When the event budget dries up?
When the Town Deal headlines fade?

Does the economy stand on its own feet —
or does it wobble like a pop-up park bench?

🌳 THE POP-UP PARK STRATEGY

The old Wilko site will become a “pop-up park”.

Temporary greenery.

Because nothing says “long-term town centre strategy” quite like:

“We’ll put some planters there for now.”

Is this regeneration…or municipal gardening therapy?

🎭 THE CLOSED BOARD MODEL

The Board includes:

Cabinet members.
The MP.
Business reps.
The BID.
Police.

It does not include:

Open public participation.
Independent scrutiny.
Live questioning.

Community-led regeneration —
just without the community in the room.

📊 THE EVALUATION FRAMEWORK

An evaluation framework is being adopted.

It promises:

Value for money.
Resident satisfaction.
Crime perception shifts.
Lessons learned.
Long-term impact.

Lovely.

But here’s the small technical issue:

Where are the baseline figures?

Without baselines, evaluation becomes narrative.

Without data, “impact” becomes interpretation.

🎪 THE REAL TEST

There are two stories here.

Story A: West Bromwich has been structurally transformed.

Story B: We modernised tired assets, subsidised events, boosted year-one footfall and declared success.

The difference between those stories is evidence, not applause.

£25 million later, West Bromwich deserves more than bunting and brochures.

It deserves proof.