Eyesore Cavendish House could finally be bulldozed early next year
An eyesore office block is finally expected to be demolished early next year, a council chief has said.
Cavendish House has been a blot on the landscape in Dudley for years and efforts to have it torn down have been frustrated.
Officials in the town have long wanted it gone but have not been able to manage it. When it eventually is bulldozed, it will make way for a huge new retail and residential development.
The run-down building overlooks the Duncan Edwards Way bypass, with smashed windows clearly visible.
Approval for demolition was granted earlier this year but there is confusion about when exactly Cavendish House will be knocked down.
Dudley Council has confirmed funding has been agreed with the Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to bulldoze the long-disused office block but getting the cash in place is thought to be behind the hold-up.
The latest LEP report said "grant agreement negotiations are under way".
The authority has not stated a firm date for when work will start but regeneration boss Ian Kettle said he hoped it would be around March.
Outgoing MP Ian Austin has been among the most vocal critics about the delay in getting rid of Cavendish House. He handed in a petition over the lack of progress, signed by more than 1,300 people.
Councillor Kettle insisted bosses at the authority were as keen as anyone to get the project moving and that he hoped that would happen "as soon as the funding comes through".
He said: "The funding for bringing it down has been agreed with the LEP.
"It's fundamental to the redevelopment of the centre of Dudley that Cavendish House comes down and the site is redeveloped.
"Over the next two or three years enormous investment is going into Dudley and that's part of it."
