Liverpool Baltic station set to overcome planning hurdle
Next week, Liverpool City Council is expected to grant planning approval for the highly anticipated project, the latest milestone in a drawn-out process to provide enhanced public transport provision in the lively district.
Consent from the planning committee would pave the way for the three-year construction project to begin.
The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority’s £100m station will be delivered on the site of the old St James station, which closed in 1917 after 40 years of operation.
The station aims to increase both employment and footfall within the Baltic Triangle, Liverpool’s creative district. A planning statement compiled by WSP suggests the economic benefits of the transport hub could rise to £155m over the next 60 years.
Ticket offices, gates, and the station concourse would be found at ground level, with escalators, lifts, and stairs ferrying passengers down to the platforms.
The shafts of the four proposed lifts would rise above the station’s roof to create four ‘beacons’ at each corner of the single-storey hub building.
An external forecourt to the east and south of the station has been proposed to provide a soft and hard landscaped public realm about the station’s entrance.
Planned highway improvements include redesigned junctions, carriageways, pedestrian crossings, and the provision of cycle lanes.
Construction is set to start this year, with completion targeted for the end of 2027
Construction alone would contribute almost £28m GVA to the local economy, according to planning documents.
Funds for the scheme will be derived from the £710m City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement allocated from Westminster. Credit: via LCRCA
The station will serve the class 777 trains already put into service by the LCRCA and Merseyrail.
WSP has agreed with Liverpool City Council that a second application concerning the temporary use of a construction site to the station’s south would be determined in parallel with the main scheme.
In September, LCRCA secured almost £100m in funding for the station from the government’s £710m City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement.
Owen Ellis Architects is the principal designer, with Mott MacDonald as project manager.
To view the application, use the planning reference 24F/2999 on Liverpool City Council’s planning portal.
Why does it have the BR logo all over it and not the more meaningful M?
By John
The fact that a new train station has had a “drawn out planning process” just demonstrates how unfit for purpose our planning system is. Things like train stations should get automatic approval – what a total nonsense
By Anonymous
It’s been 84 years
By Anonymous
A much-needed and welcome piece of infrastructure, but would someone at the council and Merseytravel please give Paul at Ashwell Motors the courtesy of a listening ear and some help relocating? As a customer, I can confirm that he has a cracking business and seems to be getting treated rather shoddily.
By Penny Lane
`I would like to know why planning takes so long in Liverpool compared to any other city in the world.
By Anonymous
The area doesn’t need a station there are more deserving places like Anfield or Liverpool Airport why the baltic ?
By Alvo
Very good news,and hard to believe that over 100 objections were received, but this will be a great resource for all the residents in the Baltic as well as those on Upper Parliament St, the top of Park Rd, and other adjacent neighbourhoods.
Mayor Rotheram needs to start planning new stations now, most of them won’t be as complicated to build as this one, we have areas in the East of Liverpool with no train service at all, and I know he has 3 stations planned in Halton, St Helens, and Wirral but they’re not till 2030, which is ludicrous.
By Anonymous
Should be a train station near LFC football ground, would be able to expand football ground in the future. More important than the Liverpool Baltic Station.
By Thomas🚂
Agree with previous comment about Ashwell Motors, businesses of their calibre should not be facing extinction. The whole approach to access to that road for the garage, and residents in the flats on Parliament Street seems to have been given scant regard.
By Mr Stevie
Many wonder why the new station will not serve Anfield, airport, etc. The simple but true answer is that “business” want it in the Baltic and there needs trump others. Rotherham went along with this. However, a new station in the Baltic is better than none.
By Anonymous
I fancy this money may have been better invested in upgrading Sandhills rather than building a station literally 5 minutes from the next one?
By Anonymous
Good that this is getting the go-ahead but we need a station at the airport, both football grounds and other out of town locations but I won’t hold my breath.
By John
The place that is crying out for a rail link and station is Liverpool Airport. I wonder if the powers that be realise !?
By Carl
@Anon 6.45pm, the essence of a Metro is to make commuting as convenient as possible, have you ever walked from Liverpool Central to the junction of Parliament St/Upper Parli, it takes a lot longer than 5 mins. This new station will help residents, workers, and visitors get to this already lively location, plus it will be a catalyst to further developments.
By Anonymous
Great news however they need a new station just north of the city centre also to serve bramley moore. Sandhills is a fatality waiting to happen on match days even with all garbage they have put in place
By Djsjtj
Full credit to the planners at Liverpool City Council for getting this planning application on the planning committee agenda so quickly, despite the complex nature of the proposal. The application was only submitted and validated in late November. No long delay with planning as suggested.
By Anonymous
Funny how all the evertonians are suddenly interested in rail infrastructure and think they know where needs it best.
By Anonymous
Imagine in future, a sunny afternoon in Lark Lane and Sefton Park, then take the train from St Michael’s and 2 stops later at Baltic to enjoy the markets, bars, and cafes there. This is what a proper Metro is about ,plenty of stops allowing access for commuters to enjoy their city and city region.
By Anonymous
The are more important railway links this city needs to prosper.
1 High speed railway links to the main line railway networks.
2 A railway line to the airport.
A station for the Baltic area is just a waste of money.
By Kevin Davies