THE 2021/22 budget was approved on Wednesday night in a full meeting of St Helens Borough Council.

As well as major capital investments for the renovation of the Gamble building and Earlestown Town Hall, the budget for the next two years covers projects such as a new bus station for the town centre.

Among the plans was £5.239 million allocated to the rebuild of Ashurst Primary School at Blackbrook for 2021/22, with a further £1.5 million to follow next year.

The current school is due to be flattened and a new building put up on the existing playground.

A new playground and car parking will be constructed on the former school site.

The original building dates back to the 1970s and is no longer fit for purpose.

Ashurst Primary School will be rebuilt

In Wednesday night’s meeting, Cllr Linda Maloney MBE, Labour Party representative for Blackbrook, said: “I would just like to comment on how delighted I am to see this [budget] report for the rebuild of Ashurst School in Blackbrook.

“I was a governor there for ten years and saw first-hand the problems with the roof. It’s a 1960s/1970s design and when it rained they had to put buckets in place to catch the rain in certain classrooms.

“The headteacher and the staff and the young people have all worked hard to change the OFSTED result from Requiring Improvement to Good, so I say well done to Ashurst and well done to this Labour budget.”

Also in the capital budget were funds for the relocation of Penkford School, which will be rehoused in an education unit at an abandoned Newton-le-Willows detention centre. Red Bank Community Home housed some of the country’s most notorious criminals in its secure juvenile unit.

£5 million has been promised for the relocation in 2021/22, with a further £1.5 million to follow in 2022/23.

Also in the schools provision is £224,000 for the expansion of Bleak Hill Primary, £47,000 to fix the heating at Oakdene Primary, and £15,000 for similar works at Newton-le-Willows Primary. Broad Oak Primary will receive £4,000 for playing field drainage.

Funding for the transport portfolio included more than £14 million for 2021/22 for the proposed Parkside Link Road.

The funds will be followed by a further £18.341 million next year, and £5.44 million in 2023/24. if the plans go ahead, the new road will link the A49 to the M6 at Junction 22.

Meanwhile, £5 million from the council is earmarked in 2022/23 for Phase 2 of the Glass Futures development to prepare the land for a £54 million, 158,000 square foot Centre of Excellent in Glass Manufacturing and Innovation.

The centre is set to be a global research and development facility aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of glass production. It will be the world’s first openly accessible test and trial furnace operation.

£9 million of funding was afforded to the project in 2020 from St Helens Borough Council and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.

2022/23 is also set be a a year of change for the town centre, with £1 million set for a new bus station and £1.25 million for demolition works around the St Mary’s market area, although details of what this will entail are not specific in the budget papers.

The demolition project will also get an additional £1.25 million the year after.

There appears to be positive news for young people too, as £1 million has been promised for a St Helens Youth Zone in 2022/23.

£1 million will go towards the remaining relocations in Church Square in 2022/23.

The council purchased Church Square Shopping Centre in October 2017 for £26.6 million in order to have greater control for the town centre regeneration project.

Other investments this year include £65,000 for new equipment at Newton-le-Willows Health and Fitness Centre, almost £700,000 for the new 3G pitch and swimming pool reopening at Sutton Leisure Centre, and £53,000 to “refresh” the ICT facilities across St Helens libraries.