DUDLEY is on the brink of a new dawn with rival bidders vying to change the town centre skyline.

Council planners have given outline permission to a multi-million pound scheme by developer Avenbury to create a new shopping area on the site of the shabby Cavendish House building near the town's southern bypass.

The project, called Porters Field, would create around 500 jobs and brings the total of proposed major redevelopment schemes for the area to three.

Avenbury spokesman Ed Grieve said: "Porters Field is the only scheme that will comprehensively regenerate Dudley town centre, providing a range of retail and leisure space, a new taxi rank and the potential for a new public transport interchange set around a landscaped public square."

Members of Dudley's development control committee were quick to support the plan which would see the demolition of the eyesore derelict eight-storey Cavendish House.

Cllr Stuart Turner said: "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to get the regeneration of Dudley right - it is the first step in changing the image of Dudley."

Committee chairman, cllr Rachel Harris, added: "We can put our Dudley stamp on this, it won't look like every other development in the West Midlands."

However shoppers in Dudley may still face a long wait before they can checkout a new superstore.

The Cavendish House site already has another approved supermarket plan in place from Cavendish Quarter Properties and councillors last week also gave the green light to a Commercial Estates Group plan for an 8,000 square metre store, car park and petrol station on the site of nearby Falcon House.

Developers and representatives from Dudley Council will now begin negotiations on the details of the proposals and there is currently no timescale in place for building to begin.

Cllr Shaukat Ali, Dudley cabinet member for regeneration, said: "It shows the confidence from investors and developers in the borough when we have three planning applications.

"It has been a long time coming and we will be looking at all three applications in terms of deliverability and feasibility. We would like to move forward as quickly as possible towards development."

The number of similar large scale outline applications in the same part of Dudley has raised fears of a stand-off between rival companies.

Dudley Conservative group leader, cllr Patrick Harley, said: "This is throwing it all at the wall to see what sticks, I don't think it is wise to have three applications with two on the same site. Its a game of who blinks first."