Crosby petitions for £19.2m of Levelling Up funds

Sefton Council wants to build a new library, health and wellbeing hub and 30 apartments on the site of The Green car park in the town centre.

Councillors hope that the new hub will encourage more people to come and stay in Crosby by offering better access to local services.

“The proposed Crosby town centre project is a great opportunity to knit modern health and social care services in to the heart of our community,” said Dr Craig Gillespie, clinical director for Bootle, Crosby and Maghull Primary Care Network.

“It could allow a Primary Care Network hub to develop and deliver services ‘closer to home’, thereby impacting on the wider determinants of health and reducing inequalities.”

The £19.2m bid also proposes for making Crosby more pedestrian and cycle-friendly, and to add electric vehicle charging points.

Councillors christened the Levelling Up Fund plan “Reimagining Crosby.”  If it is successful in its bid to get funding, the library, health and wellbeing hub could open in the second half of 2023.

Sefton Council also submitted a request for £14.5m from the £4.8bn Levelling Up Fund for Bootle’s town centre regeneration.

“Our approach to the Levelling Up Fund has focused on bringing benefits to local people and developing opportunities for jobs, investment and recovery to parts of our Borough that have been hit hard by the pandemic,” said Cllr Ian Maher, the leader of the Sefton Council.

“Health, wellbeing and community are at the heart of our £19.2m ‘Reimagining Crosby’ bid, which has been designed to deliver a range of benefits to people in Crosby and across our borough.”