Woodside Culture Park, Wirral Council, p Wirral Council

Part of the waterfront proposals include honouring Birkenhead's historic tram system. Credit: via Wirral Council

Consultation starts on three Birkenhead masterplans

More than 2,000 homes, multiple hotels, and an events space are all elements of Wirral Council’s latest ambitions for the town’s waterfront, central district, and St Werburgh’s area.

The local authority has launched another round of consultations for each of the three proposals, following initial feedback exercises last year.

The goal is to present masterplans for the central district and St Werburgh’s zone to committee in early 2025.

Detailed design work for the waterfront would be commissioned next month, with consultation feedback influencing the designs. A formal consultation on those proposals would be held next spring.

“This is another major step forward in our plans to revitalise the town centre and breathe new life into its business and retail spaces,” said Cllr Tony Jones, chair of the economy, regeneration, and housing committee in Wirral.

“I hope people take the opportunity to look at the proposals and see how we have incorporated comments and suggestions received in earlier rounds of consultation and engagement.”

Birkenhead waterfront and surroundings

Wirral Council is working with Sisk and Pell Frischmann on this strategy, which looks to improve connections and increase footfall between Birkenhead town centre and Woodside waterfront.

The area focussed on includes Argyle Street, Hamilton Square, Hamilton Street, Woodside Gyratory, and the waterfront promenade.

The plans would create an events space next to the Woodside Ferry Terminal and give the arrival space at Hamilton Square Station a facelift. The proposals would also be geared towards making a showcase of the future Battle of the Atlantic Museum, which recently received planning permission (and nearly £20m from the government’s Levelling Up Fund).

Funds for the waterfront revamp come from the Towns Fund and Liverpool City Region Combined Authority’s active travel funding pot.

The consultation ends on 4 November. You can access it at haveyoursay.wirral.gov.uk/birkenhead-waterfront-and-surrounds-phase-2.

Birkenhead Central masterplan. Wirral Council, p Wirral Council

A unified Birkenhead Central district could have 1,685 homes, according to the masterplan.Credit: via Wirral Council

Birkenhead Central

For this masterplan, Wirral Council is working with BDP and Aspinall Verdi. The goal is to turn the Grange Road Retail Area, Commercial District, and Charing Cross Quarter into a unified district.

The designs are meant to enable the delivery of 1,685 homes, a leisure hub, a health and wellbeing facility, three multistorey car parks, and one or two hotels. There would also be improvements made to the public realm as part of the scheme.

The consultation ends on 29 November. You can access it at haveyoursay.wirral.gov.uk/birkenhead-central-phase-2.

St Werburghs masterplan, Wirral Council, p Wirral Council

BDP is working with Wirral Council on the St Werburgh’s masterplan. Credit: via Wirral Council

St Werburgh’s

This is actually the third phase of consultation for St Werburgh’s area, which sits adjacent to the Birkenhead Central masterplan. Like Birkenhead Central, Wirral Council is working with BDP and Aspinall Verdi on this masterplan.

The goal is for St Werburgh’s to become a mixed-use neighbourhood where creativity thrives. To deliver on this vision, the framework would enable the delivery of 570 homes, a hotel, a revised market, and a new market square. The market was the subject of its own separate consultation exercise last month.

The St Werburgh’s area would be linked to Hind Street as well – itself the subject of a £51m regeneration scheme supported by Homes England and the combined authority.

The consultation concludes on 29 November. You can access it at haveyoursay.wirral.gov.uk/st-werburgh-s-masterplan-phase-3.

Your Comments

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Get in! Keep on keeping on, Wirral Council – this is more like it.

By Birket Boy

Moving fast unlike Liverpool .

By Anonymous

The St Werburghs proposals remind me of the neighbourhood in Bilbao near the Transporter Bridge with streets and mid-rise blocks, was expecting more at Woodside and envisaged some high-rise on the waterfront with residents in walking distance of the ferry commute.

By Anonymous

The land outside Woodside ferry Station needs a ‘lighthouse’ building to attract the necessary footfall required to visit the area.

By Birkonian

Wirral Council produces pictures, artists impressions, ai creations, and models to display their ludicrous vanity projects. They waste so much on these images that are of no benefit to anyone. There is no consideration given to the opinions of residents of the East of the area. The people who are doing their shopping in the miserable, depleted town of what was Birkenhead, did not want to have the market run down and destroyed, they didn’t want to have the trees in Grange Road felled. Those are two examples of reckless disregard of the local people.

By Thelma Murphy

@ Thelma 12.02am,it’s precisely because Birkenhead was becoming miserable and depleted that it needed a massive re-think and injection of optimism and repopulation. Shops and town centres survive better with high density housing nearby and not the suburban type housing that mainly exists there now which is not an effective use of valuable land. The market itself was not attracting the footfall because it was outdated, selling cheap goods that really can be purchased anywhere and therefore not really making the market a go-to, uplifting, destination.

By Anonymous

Precisely Anonymous @ 8:05am 👏

By Mike Walker

This is the kickstart that Birkenhead needs, well done Wirral Council

By Anonymous

Well done Wirral for getting on with regeneration on the east side and avoiding the need for GB development. This should be an inspiration for other met districts. Good luck!

By Peter Black

This is a lovely masterplan – but where is the occupier demand? Economies are based on those who fill the buildings, not those who plan and design them. Wirral and LCR need to up their inward investment game – disappointing tenants/occupiers aren’t even referenced here.

By ItstheDemand,Stupid

Inward investment into the LCR is terrible. Need a bit less rhetoric and more tangible results from the Growth Platform.

By Anonymous

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