Merry Hill Shopping Centre closing in June 1990. A further blow came when the local council, Dudley Metropolitan Borough, announced that it was bringing in parking charges throughout the area; this turned more shoppers away from local town centres, and towards the Merry Hill Centre, where parking remains free. Though there have been plans for introducing parking charges at the centre, this has been criticised, ironically, due to fears of impacting trade. In 2008, Merry Hill Centre, along with nearby Brierley Hill, was redesignated as the 'strategic town centre' of the Dudley Borough, and thus the focus of future local government investment. The Merry
Westfield Helensvale been refurbished for local shopping. The Westfield Helensvale shopping centre has predominately mall enclosed shopping and only a few shops open to outside traffic. Many other Westfield shopping centres conversely are often fully enclosed malls, however the company is redeveloping a number of sites (such as Garden City) to include outdoor, piazza style areas. Westfield Helensvale has 2,000 car parking spaces, all of which are free. The shopping centre is adjacent to Helensvale railway station, which is serviced by various buses and trains to local areas and Brisbane. Westfield Helensvale Westfield Helensvale also referred to as Helensvale Town Centre, is