Merry Hill Shopping Centre and local council leaders have stated their aim to better connect and integrate Merry Hill with the traditional town centre of Brierley Hill. The Dudley Canal was re-routed in the late-1990s, and between 2002-2005, housing has been developed around the complex (several apartment blocks opposite the cinema as well as apartments and houses overlooking Pedmore Road). A new line of the West Midlands Metro tram system was scheduled to reach the site in 2011, but has been delayed indefinitely. In July 2017, plans were revealed to expand the centre to include more restaurants and to open a new Odeon cinema
Westfield Parramatta expanded the Parramatta town centre south of the railway line. That original Grace Bros. store was later incorporated into the first stage development of the new Westfield Parramatta, opening in 1975 as the largest shopping centre in Australia at the time. Later stage redevelopments of the sites now occupied by the current Westfield Parramatta involved archaeological digs which uncovered artifacts dating back to the earliest days of Colonial settlement, reflecting Parramatta's history as the second oldest settlement in Australia. The first redevelopment of Westfield Parramatta took place between 1988 and 1989. This was followed by a large scale expansion of