WORK to demolish the former Wyre Forest Glades Leisure Centre will begin in the next few months, signalling the beginning of ambitious plans to redevelop the area known as Kidderminster Eastern Gateway.

Wyre Forest District Council cabinet members agreed at a special meeting last night (Wednesday, August 10) that the site should be cleared as soon as possible so that the regeneration of that part of town could get underway without delay.

Cabinet members agreed the development framework for the Kidderminster Eastern Gateway area - which would see a mixture of uses on the land around the Bromsgrove Street area of the town - at its previous meeting in July.

Council chiefs have plans for a cinema and restaurant uses for the site of the former Glades Leisure Centre, which officially closed its doors on July and has been a target for vandalism since.

Elsewhere, the plans include residential, workspace and commercial opportunities depending on what developers are keen to bring to the town.

Wednesday night's decision will see the council procuring and undertaking the demolition of the Glades over the next few months in parallel with actively marketing the site, as a signal to developers that they want to see the site revitalised as soon as possible.

Councillor Marcus Hart, leader of the council, said: "I am pleased that the cabinet has been able to act swiftly to get the redevelopment of the Glades site underway by undertaking the demolition; we recognise the importance of the message that this gives to developers and our local community that we are not prepared to let the site lie idle, but rather than we want this first phase of redevelopment to act as a catalyst for future phases of the Kidderminster Eastern Gateway."

Councillor Tracey Onslow, cabinet member for planning and regeneration, added: "The demolition of the former leisure centre is the beginning of the step change we are planning for the town to increase its vitality and viability.

"This is the next phase of works under our ReWyre ReNewed programme that has already seen £2m invested in the public realm of the town and £1m committed to opening up Worcester Street to traffic again.

"The council is playing its part in the regeneration of our town and we want the market to respond and work in partnership with us to ensure that we have an attractive and economically robust town centre."

Last week, the Shuttle reported how council chiefs condemned a "reckless" resident who blogged about breaking into the Glades.

The post on the blog “28 Days Later” by user “Jon9679” featured an account of how he was able to gain entry to the vacant Wyre Forest Glades Leisure Centre and take photographs highlighting what he thinks are safety concerns within the site.

But, his post was criticised by Cllr Marcus Hart, who also urged people to “stay away” from the site.

The council also confirmed that it had received a number of other reports of alleged break-ins at the vacant building, since its closure in July. This followed a suspected arson attack at the site, on July 25 at around 8.55pm.