Economy
Brownhills High Street pictured in 2007The decline of the mining industry in the 1950s caused a severe economic slump in Brownhills, which continues to this day. The local authority has created a "Townscape Masterplan" for the regeneration of Brownhills, which involves increased leisure provision, the improvement of the town centre's shopping facilities, a new transport interchange incorporating Park and Ride facilities and cycle links to the town centre and the National Cycle Route, and the refurbishment of run-down properties. The plan also involves the potential construction of a bypass to relieve the heavily congested High Street. In addition to these developments, a grant of over £350,000 was obtained to fund the creation of a new "mini town square", and the demolition of blocks of high-rise flats in the town has begun.
As of the 2001 census, Brownhills had 5,768 people in employment, of which the largest percentage (28.85%) worked in manufacturing, followed by retail (19.35%) and construction (8.93%). Compared to the national average, the town had a relatively high percentage of workers in the construction industry and a relatively low number in real estate and financial intermediation. The average distance travelled to work by Brownhills residents was 10.36 km; the vast majority (62%) travelled to work by car.
One of the town's largest employers is T & S Stores, a subsidiary of Tesco plc, whose depot in the town employs approximately 1,000 people. Brownhills was also formerly home to the wirings manufacturer Electrium's last UK-based factory, but this has closed, with manufacturing shifted overseas and commercial staff moved to a new site in Cannock. In 2006, the site was converted into a mixed-use facility dubbed Toll Point, with Walsall Council among those moving to the site. Many people are also employed at the town's large branch of Tesco which is open 24 hours a day on weekdays and is large enough to have its own petrol station. Before being taken over by Tesco, the store was a branch of Hillards, and an earlier Tesco store in the town had been forced to close as it could not compete with Hillards.
The High Street retains various independent shops, including a cobbler and a butcher, but is seen as in need of improvement. Walsall Council's regeneration programme includes extensive redevelopment of the High Street; the council's view is that retail investment should be focussed on the existing shopping area rather than encouraging new developments outside this area as, based on consultants' studies, the council believes that the town could not support large-scale retail development. Specific development opportunities within the vicinity of the High Street have been identified, with particular focus on land on Silver Street, adjacent to the canal.
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The aim of the laborer should be, not to get his living, to get “a good job,” but to perform well a certain work; and, even in a pecuniary sense, it would be economy for a town to pay its laborers so well that they would not feel that they were working for low ends, as for a livelihood merely, but for scientific, or even moral ends. Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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