Sefton Council is urging Ministers and Civil Servants to take a closer look at the Borough’s specific problems when considering its new bids to the Government’s Levelling Up Fund.

Most deprived

Despite areas of Bootle being among the most deprived in the UK, Sefton has been placed in ‘Category 3’, the lowest priority for Levelling Up funding. This means it will be judged alongside the City of London, Cambridge and Windsor.

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead and the City of London have both been placed in the top 20 of prosperity ratings for the UK by the London-based think-tank Legatum Institute, while Sefton is rated 263rd.

Centred around Bootle and Crosby, Sefton’s bids are for a total of £30.3 million and are designed to regenerate the areas, tackle local deprivations and support the creation of investment and employment opportunities in the two towns.

Transform

The Bootle bid is for £20 million to underpin a major regeneration scheme to transform Bootle town centre, focused on the iconic The Bootle Strand at its heart.  Additionally, a large area of unused land alongside the Leeds-Liverpool Canal will transformed into green spaces for local communities to use. This will support more healthy lifestyles and improvements to the overall the environment. 

Opening up access to the canal will provide a connection to an active leisure space and a natural highway for boats, canoes, cyclists and pedestrians. People will be able to travel sustainably to the New Bramley Moore Dock football stadium, a short distance away along the canal, and beyond into Liverpool. 

The development will also contribute to a more diverse and better-quality town centre with new food and drink; culture, arts and entertainment spaces. A hi-tech gigabyte fast digital hub, education and training, business support and a new integrated health and social care hub will all be available on the high-street. This will complement, refresh and improve the retail outlets on which local people rely. 

More visitors

The investment will drive the growth of night-time economy, attract more visitors and drive inward investment from new businesses. This will enable Bootle to re-build after having been one of the boroughs hardest hit in the UK by the Covid pandemic.

The £10.3 million bid for Crosby Town Centre will underpin a programme of regeneration support ambitions of the local community set out in the Crosby Investment Strategy.  The proposals will enhance the viability and vitality of Crosby town centre and support local businesses by helping to attract more residents and visitors.

Building a new learning, skills, health and well-being hub housing a library, GP/community health care and a place for people to both work and develop skills is at the heart of the Crosby bid.

Levelling Up Fund resources would also allow for a significant upgrade of the main gateways into the town centre, better pedestrian and cycle access and new electric vehicle charging points in car parks, while also fund on the appearance of public spaces.

Suffering

Sefton Council Leader, Cllr Ian Maher said: “Our bids contain exciting, ambitious and realistic plans of what can be sustainably achieved with support through the Levelling Up Fund.

“As its name suggests this funding is for the purposes of levelling up, which is why we have focused on Bootle and Crosby where levels of deprivation are at their highest and people are suffering most from the current economic climate.

“We are fortunate in that we have already secured £37.5million of Town Deal funding for Southport, which we are using to support our delivery of a range of large-scale projects to regenerate the town and its surroundings.

“These bids now focus on parts of the Borough which have the greatest need, some of which are among the areas hardest hit in the country by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Hit

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Bootle had also been hit by the news that the Government’s Revenue & Customs service and others were relocating out of the town and that Very Group were leaving nearby Aintree.

Sefton Council is committed to keeping The Strand at the heart of plans to regenerate the town. It has developed a bold vision for the future of Bootle, which would be supported by a successful Levelling Up fund bid.

In Crosby the money would be used for a range of schemes to revitalise Crosby Village, including creating a new ‘civic hub’, which would contain a library, healthcare facility and other uses.

Bootle MP Peter Dowd and Bill Esterson, MP for Sefton Central, have written letter supporting Sefton Council’s bids, in which they state the project packages have the ability ‘to significantly improve the prospects for residents and the communities’ of their constituencies.

Pressing need

Peter Dowd MP said: “Bootle town centre’s economy has been severely impacted by COVID 19 and the relocation of HMRC, and includes one of the country’s most deprived areas in terms of health, employment, income education and skills.

“There is a pressing need for significant intervention to break the spiral of decline and Sefton Council’s decision to acquire Bootle Strand and put it at the heart of the town’s transitional regeneration programme is a brave and ambitious step.

“With support from the Government through the Levelling Up Fund this project will act as a catalyst for change and will help provide support at the heart of the local community.”

Successful

Bill Esterson MP said: “Sefton includes some of the country’s most deprived areas. 

“Crosby has significant strengths and could, with the scale of Levelling Up funding requested, become an even more successful place where people can live, work, be educated and spend their leisure time.

“I urge Ministers and officials to give full consideration to this proposal, which could deliver transformational change and address many issues of deprivation and decline. It would offer support to the local community where it is needed most and help aid economic recovery and resilience, which is what the people of Sefton deserve.”

Cllr Maher has previously expressed his disappointment at the Government’s decision not to back the Council’s previous Levelling Up Fund bids for Bootle and Crosby, despite the high levels of need in those areas. He added that Government methodology has also resulted in the region receiving an allocation of Shared Prosperity Funding that is insufficient for the needs of the borough and the region.

Opportunities

Cllr Maher added: “We were disappointed at the recent Government announcement that Sefton would, once again, be assessed in the lowest Category 3 for the Levelling Up Fund.

“This put us on a par with areas such as Windsor, Cambridge and the City of London.

“However, I am urging Ministers and Department of Levelling Up officials to see beyond these broad criteria, take a close look at the specific problems we are facing and work with us to address them to create opportunities for the people and businesses of Sefton.”