A £1M funding boost to help support the regeneration of the borough’s town centres is “hopefully a sign of things to come”, the leader of St Helens Council has said.
At its meeting on Friday, the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority agreed to award £1 million to each local authority within the city region, to support plans to revitalise town centres.
Cllr Pat Hackett, leader of Wirral Council and portfolio holder for inclusive economy and third sector, said the money will make a “big difference” to struggling town centres in the city region.
The combined authority agreed to commission the £6 million fund in October last year.
Since then councils have been identifying which town centres they wish to nominate, along with proposals for what they intend to do.
Cllr David Baines
St Helens Council has put forward plans to transform Earlestown by building on its Victorian railway heritage, while making the canal the focus of regeneration of St Helens town centre.
The news comes shortly after the council failed in a bid for a slice of the government’s £675 million fund to revitalise the nation’s high streets.
Bids had been submitted by St Helens Council for St Helens and Earlestown.
Speaking after the meeting, Cllr David Baines, leader of St Helens Council, said: “Town centre regeneration in St Helens and Earlestown is a priority for me, it’s a priority for Labour in St Helens and it’s a priority for the council.
“There was some bad news a couple of weeks ago when we missed out on central government funding to help town centre improvement, so this is good news.
“This shows the benefits of being a member of the city region.
“We’re getting this money for St Helens and for Earlestown.
“This is, hopefully a sign of things to come and in the next few years we’ll have lots more announcements like this regarding the town centres.”
The combined authority approved the provision of grant funding of up to £6 million from the Strategic Investment Fund (SIF), awarding each constituent local authority up to £1 million.
The award of grant to each constituent local authority is conditional on the satisfactory completion of a detailed action plan for each town centre.
An internal investment panel will review and approve the action plans.
The projects put forward by St Helens are detailed below:
St Helens town centre:
An artist's image of St Helens town centre
In August 2017 the council revealed its ‘Transforming Our Town’ vision to increase activities such as arts, leisure and education as well as an ambitious plan to transform the urban form.
The approach seeks to make the canal a key feature within the regeneration plans and the council has taken active steps to bring sites under their ownership.
Proposed activity
Accommodation of retail configuration and associated assets
Introduction of Town Centre ‘St Helens Team’
Contribution to redevelopment masterplan/delivery plan
Contribution to new public realm/artwork
Creative use of Shop fronts
‘Street ahead’ Identify key priority area in Town Centre (s) to promote business growth through business rate reductions, improvements grants and potential BID areas
Earlestown (Newton-le-Willows)
A centre of historical significance as the first railway junction station in the world on what is the oldest inter-city railway line. Building on the heritage of Earlestown is a key part of the plan for this Town Centre which includes a Victorian town hall and one of the oldest markets in the region as well as the railway history of the location. The proposed activities for Earlestown has the aim of creating a sustainable, modern, vibrant and attractive town centre. ·
Proposed activity
Contribution to redevelopment masterplan/delivery plan
Contribution to new public realm/artwork
Creative use of Shop fronts
‘Street ahead’ Identify key priority area in Town Centre (s) to promote business growth through business rate reductions, improvements grants and potential BID areas
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