Latest News

Bootle Canalside will soon become a reality after Sefton Council’s cabinet’s approval of its business case, and additional funding to bring the project to completion.

Bootle Canalside will serve as a multi-functional events, entertainment, and hospitality venue. It will stimulate the local economy, transforming the look and feel of the town for residents, businesses and visitors and improving the quality of life for the community.

Further artists impressions released today give a flavour of what the site adjoining the Strand will soon look like with, a dynamic, multi-purpose open air venue sitting alongside the waters of the Leeds Liverpool Canal. The finished site will include food and drink offer outlets, located in our refurbished shipping containers, in a nod to Bootle’s industrial past. It will also feature an urban community garden to bring green space into the town centre.

The Council has committed £567,000 to complete the physical works on site, open up the canal towpath and start work on developing a full events programme, from Summer 2022. It will potentially include Christmas markets, music events and comedy shows.

The work will improve the environment and open up the canal for use, as well as providing a link to the future Bramley Moore Dock Everton development. The aim is to bring new activity to the under-used land as the long-term regeneration of Bootle develops.

The completion of the site is highly anticipated with a number of groups seeing the potential of such a diverse space. These include a ‘Street Food Regeneration Programme’ set to be delivered in partnership with the Government’s Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the Nationwide Caterers Association, Hugh Baird College and Everton in the Community.

The approval of the Bootle Canalside Business Case by Sefton Council’s cabinet brings completion one step closer and signals its long-term commitment to the regeneration of Bootle.

Cllr Ian Maher, Leader of Sefton Council said:  

“It is hugely positive that we are making a commitment to develop Level Up our communities and provide important new infrastructure which will kickstart the regeneration and reorientation of Bootle town centre.

“On the back of the acquisition of the Strand and adjacent sites, we have an amazing opportunity to open up a substantial stretch of canal frontage, and the opportunities for community groups, events, and leisure activities are endless.

“We look forward to providing more updates on the progress of the physical works and the development of an events programme for this and next year, in the coming months.”

Professor Sir Michael Marmot, Director of the University College London Institute of Health Equity and leading voice on health inequalities, has published a landmark report on how public, private and third sector organisations in Cheshire and Merseyside can work together to tackle health inequalities.

The report – All Together Fairer – has been written by Sir Michael and his team of researchers in partnership with Cheshire and Merseyside’s local authorities, and sets out measurable actions for each area, as well as the subregion as a whole, to create a fairer, equitable society.

The subregion, which is made up of Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens, Warrington and Wirral, has been working as a ‘Marmot Community’ since 2019 and has undergone a period of intense research from Sir Michael’s team to create a set of recommendations to deliver real, tangible changes for local communities.

Some of the recommendations, which have been broken down into one-year and five-year goals, along with related indicators to measure outcomes, include action on young peoples’ services, wages, housing, racism, poverty and much more. They are influenced heavily by the Marmot Principles, eight policy areas defined by Sir Michael, which include early years development, employment, living standards, communities, ill-health prevention, discrimination, and environmental sustainability.

All Together Fairer was presented at an event by Sir Michael yesterday, who delivered a keynote address to partners made up of local authorities, the NHS, private and third sector organisations, and interested members of the public.

Commenting on the launch of this report, Sir Michael Marmot, Professor of Epidemiology at University College London, and Director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity, said:

“The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing inequalities. Life was harder for those living in deprivation. The rising cost-of-living is a social crisis which will have further damaging impact on peoples’ physical and mental health. We need central government action. But much can happen at local level, as shown by the eagerness of colleagues in Cheshire and Merseyside to grasp this issue with both hands and do everything in their power to change lives for the better.

“It is shocking that a third of residents in Cheshire and Merseyside live in the most deprived 20 per cent neighbourhoods in England. It is vital that local leaders and partners do not accept this as destiny. The kind of large-scale change needed cannot be delivered by just one organisation or group of people, which is why I’m delighted to see how closely the public, private and third sectors work together in the subregion, which will prove most helpful when delivering the schemes and initiatives set out in our report.”

Like other parts of England, Cheshire and Merseyside faces numerous challenges, and many people in the subregion’s nine local authority areas are living in poverty and deprivation, which impacts health. Life expectancy is lower for men and women, many areas are below average levels of healthy life expectancy, the COVID-19 mortality rate is higher than average, levels of fuel poverty have been higher than average since 2016 and areas also struggle with increasing levels of alcohol and drug misuse.

Raj Jain, Designate Chair of NHS Cheshire and Merseyside, said:

“The launch of this groundbreaking report and the imminent integration of health and care services across Cheshire and Merseyside mean we are now in a position to make a real difference for the people who live and work in our area.

“It was very encouraging to see 500 people join the launch of this much awaited report yesterday. It will help guide us through the journey of positioning, creating, and improving services for our people while tackling some of the current inequality in health and care across our Places.”

Councillor Louise Gittins, Leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council, and Cabinet Member of Poverty and Wellbeing, said:

“I am confident that we will see a real change for our local people because of this work. Put simply, we cannot afford to fail. Continuing and worsening health inequalities are not inevitable and we want to make a difference, so that all local people in Cheshire and Merseyside live healthy and happy lives. No one organisation has all the answers or resources, which is why we can only really improve the health of our population by working together. I’d like to thank Sir Michael and his team for their support and expertise in producing this report, and as we continue to work together over the coming years.”

Councillor Ian Moncur, Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing at Sefton Council, said:

“All Together Fairer supports transformation across our system in line with the eight Marmot priorities. It’s particularly exciting as Cheshire and Merseyside is the first report where the two new Marmot priorities, tackling racism and pursuing environmental sustainability, have been included. I know for a fact that there are committed public servants and leaders in our councils and across our public sector partners who want to tackle the causes of poor health, who will do everything they can to make these recommendations a reality. Too many people do not have access to the opportunities, or the resources, that they need to fully thrive and that’s what must change.”

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said:

“The true measure of levelling up isn’t in the shiny buildings that shape our skyline -it’s in the health, wellbeing, and prosperity we create for the people. It’s an absolute injustice that still now – in 2022 – where you are born often determines your life chances – a post code lottery determining your bank balance, the food you can afford, the diseases you’re likely to develop, and how long you will live.

“In our region, life expectancy is worse than the national average for both men and women – this has got to change. While we know that health inequalities aren’t isolated to our area, I know that we have the capabilities to lead the way in addressing them.

“It’s fantastic to have the support and expertise of Sir Michael Marmot and his team with us as we begin our journey to building a healthier, fairer city region – where no one is left behind. This isn’t a journey for an easy life, but for a better future for the 1.6 million people who call the Liverpool City Region their home.”

The All Together Fairer report was commissioned by the Cheshire and Merseyside Population Health Board and can be downloaded here. To be kept up to date with the latest news from this programme of work, please sign up to the mailing list for the Champs Public Health Collaborative, here.

Examples of the work already taking place across Cheshire and Merseyside that embody the approach defined by Sir Michael and his team have been captured as video case studies. These videos can be viewed here.

Sefton Council has officially reinstated Cllr Clare Louise Carragher for another term as the borough’s civic Mayor.

Last Thursday, 19th May, Mayor Carragher officially signed the declaration of the acceptance of office for 2022/23. She was joined by her fellow councillors from across the chamber.

Mayor Carragher has held office since 2021/2022 office since replacing outgoing Mayor Cllr June Burns, who had previously held the civic title since 2019.

Following her reinstatement, Mayor Carragher said: “It has been an honour to be able to represent this beautiful borough on both a local and national level. As I enter my second term, I cannot wait to continue engaging with Sefton residents and celebrate everything our incredible borough has to offer.”

Mayor Carragher has done a great deal of work in the community in the past year. Last year the Mayor’s Christmas Toy Appeal helped children of families in the community facing hardship. The appeal, with the help of generous individuals and organisations, resulted in thousands of items, ranging from giant teddy bears to junior science kits, being sent in for children to open on Christmas Day.

Mayor Carragher is a former dancer and theatre performer who has starred in national productions of Grease, Chicago and more. Following the end of her stage career, Mayor Carragher turned her hand to the legal profession, working in witness services in Bootle before pursuing a full-time role as a councillor for Manor ward in Sefton in 2015.

In her second term, Mayor Carragher will be supporting the following three charities. These are The Plaza Cinema, a community cinema run by volunteers that offers dynamic film-based education programmes to schools, the voluntary sector and the general public. Southport Royal British Legion, a base for the UK’s leading Armed Forces charity. And Sefton Children’s Trust, who provide holidays/residential experiences for young people of families in Sefton who are experiencing difficulties.

For more information about the Mayoral role and what it means, please visit www.sefton.gov.uk/mayor

Sefton residents are being asked not to use unrelated council numbers to get in touch regarding bin collection delays.

The Council have requested that residents avoid using numbers dedicated to the delivery of other key Council functions as this can cause delays in other, unrelated areas and will not result in a quicker response to a bin collection query.

A spokesperson for Sefton Council said:

“We have received a number of calls relating to bin collections to phone lines that are dedicated to the delivery of other key Council functions.

We understand that residents may be unsure about what to do if their collection is missed or have questions regarding bin collections but we urge people to contact us via established routes if they need to speak with us.

The best way to contact the Council is via our website or via our Contact Centre on 0345 140 0845. We cannot take calls relating to bin collections on other numbers and residents will not get a quicker response by calling other numbers.  

We understand how frustrating it has been for local residents in recent weeks, however we would like to reassure residents that we are making progress in clearing the backlog thanks to the huge efforts being put in by our collection teams, the extra resources we have made available and a reduction in what were unusually high levels of sickness absence.

“We would like to thank Sefton residents for their patience while we have experienced these difficulties and also our teams for the considerable effort they have put in to carry out this catch-up operation.

“We continue to deploy extra resource to catch up on collections and we are asking people to leave their bin out. Our teams will reach every bin so please bear with us while we bring this issue to an end.”

Sefton Council’s Cabinet members have approved the Business Case for the first new properties to be used as council housing for since 2006 at their meeting today.

Thirteen properties will be acquired by the Council from its housing development company Sandway Homes’ Buckley Hill Lane development for use as Council housing.

Apartments for rent

Nine apartments will be for rent, six of them having one-bedroom and three of them with two-bedrooms. All ground floor apartments being accessible and adapted with a level-access shower. Four of the two-bedroom houses on the site will be available on a shared ownership basis, offering an affordable route to home ownership.

Cllr Trish Hardy, Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member for Communities and Housing said: “Thanks to our innovative and far-sighted decision to establish Sandway Homes, the Council now has opportunities to start making these much-needed, new affordable homes available in Sefton alongside the development of high-quality housing at locations across the Borough.

“This is just the first opportunity to develop new council housing through Sandway and looking ahead, we are now developing a new Business Plan to set out proposals for a whole new Council Housing Programme in Sefton.”

Commitment

Sefton Council established Sandway Homes in 2019 to enable it to meet its commitment to providing local people with new high-quality housing, in line with its 2030 Vision. The plans to include council apartments as part of the Buckley Hill Lane development have been approved by the Council’s Planning Committee.

Sandway Homes’ 63-property, Buckley Hill Lane development is located on the edge of Netherton. It consists of two, three and four-bed homes and one and two-bed apartments, most of which will be for sale. The scheme is on land previously occupied by tower blocks, known locally as the Z Blocks. Existing service diversion works have now commenced, and the main construction phase is due on site in November 2022.

Affordable homes

Louise Davies, Sandway Homes Managing Director said: “The inclusion of affordable homes has been a pre-requisite of each of the Sandway schemes across the Borough.

“This ensures that we are providing access to home ownership and high-quality rented accommodation to a wide range of customers as part of our developments, as well as properties to buy on the open market.

“Buckley Hill Lane will go on site later this year, with the sales launch planned for Spring 2023. We have a range of spacious homes with a high standard of specification which we are certain will be well-received in this area of Sefton.”

More information and details of the high-quality, contemporary homes Sandway available to buy and under construction in Sefton can be found at www.sandwayhomes.co.uk.

You can read the report to the Sefton Council Cabinet meeting here.