Liverpool Central Station chosen for Green Book pilot
Making good on her promise to reform the way government appraises projects, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced a round of trials for a revised, place-based assessment system.
Liverpool, Birmingham, Plymouth, and Port Talbot were selected to test the new system, Reeves told the audience at the Regional Investment Summit on Tuesday.
The revised evaluation method will seek to prevent benefit-cost ratios, which tend to favour projects in London over the regions, from dominating project appraisals.
Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram has been one of the champions for Green Book reform for years. He was at the summit yesterday when Reeves made her announcement. He spoke to Place North West about what it meant for Liverpool’s Central Station to be one of the projects selected to trial the new system. Planning consent is estimated in 2026 and a contractor is expected to be confirmed next year also.
“It’s dynamite for us,” he said.
The 86-acre Central Station proposal is part of a vision for a new Liverpool-Manchester Railway, with Liverpool City Region looking at reimagining the area around Liverpool Lime Street and Liverpool Central. Liverpool City Region’s Investment Guide 2025 describes a £5bn gross development value project with an ask of £2.5bn in transport funding from UK government.
“What we’re doing, it’s a bit like Kings Cross St Pancras,” Rotheram told Place.
As part of the government’s Green Book reform trials, multiple government departments would be able to look at the project to assess its value, Rotheram explained. In the case of Central Station, this means evaluating it not only on the benefits it will offer for transport in the region, but also for the retail and hospitality opportunities it could create.
Rotheram added: “This is not about money. This is about the approach to the money.
“It’s not just about ‘if you give us a billion pounds we can do it’. It’s about providing developers and people who read your publication with the confidence that the government has assessed this as more than just a transport scheme and the whole thing makes sense.”
He added that the combined authority was “ready to press go” on Central Station.
“We’re desperate for the green light,” he said.
The Green Book reforms announced by Reeves build upon a system Homes England put into place two years ago, according to CBRE executive director Iain Jenkinson.
Jenkinson called Reeves’ announcement “very welcome” but also “long overdue”.
He told Place that CBRE had been working alongside Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Homes England on crafting new rules for project appraisals for years. This included conversations with the Treasury and Number 10. The resulting methodology was then used to justify public sector investment in Greater Manchester.
Jenkinson likened the new system to a “pebble in a pond”.
“If a project is dropped in, you can claim the benefits across a wider area,” he explained.
However, he stressed that a new system will not suddenly mean investment floods into regional towns.
“You can’t get away from latent market fundamentals,” Jenkinson said.
“What [the new system] proved in Greater Manchester is those areas that are naturally close to city centre perform better because the value fundamentals of that particular project are better,” he explained.
“If you go further out into the towns – there was huge improvements, but not sufficient improvements to really change the dial. That’s still going to be the challenge even with the new Green Book.”
Well done Steve Rotheram on this occasion.
Central Station and its environs have had a few false starts over the years maybe this can be the start of real progress and greater developments elsewhere.
By Liverpool4Progess
This should be Steve’s Flagship project not the Barrage, as this would free up capacity on both local railways and longer distance ones by taking the burden away from Lime St so national rail routes benefit as eg we haven’t got direct trains to Edinburgh, Bristol, Cardiff, etc.
Still a bit surprising there aren’t plans to re-open the Edge Hill tunnels though.
By Anonymous
So Rotheram expects government to hand over £2.5bn for Central Station alongside his fantasy scheme for tidal? Don’t hold your breath. At least Iain Jenkinson points out that Homes England and others moved the dial on appraising schemes a few years back, and rightly pointing out that some schemes are still held back by a weak regional market regardless of any Green Book change.
By Anonymous
all feels very technocrat this stuff – just produce a business case as normal, even if the VfM is poor the government can fund it. No need for trials etc. These are political decisions.
By j
National economic cost-benefit analyses including wages, property and land prices have, for many decades, been systemically biased in favor of public capital investment in the South East and London. Wow, what a big surprize! A knighthood for the Oxbridge brain-box who notice that out! I have known that for half-a-century. Do I get a medal?
By James Yates
So the Green book is dead? I thought it was the bible for the big 5 EY etc
By Claire C
An absurd sum for what at present is a mediocre redevelopment which would achieve nothing for the city. Rather than pressing ahead with a redevelopment that would integrate the City Line with the rest of Merseyrail, it appears Rotheram is giving the City Line away (and our revenue with it) and just chasing a commuter line to Manchester. He should keep his low ambitions to himself.
By John
Its great that the Treasury has loosened the robustness of its appraisal methodology, reflecting the fact that so many schemes don’t make sense in economic terms and regional economies like liverpool will continue to be a net drain on UK plc. It will now be a free for all for perpetual public subsidy. Short termism at its best – a future government will row back on this but mark my words this is a backwards step
By Retrograde
Don’t fully get Rotheram’s comparison with Kings Cross and St Pancras, I mean ok Lime St and Central aren’t that far apart, but the two London stations are only separated by crossing Pancras Rd or using the linking tunnel. Anyway any pedestrian tunnel linking Lime St and Central would only add to the costs and put Goverment off.
Nevertheless Central needs to expand given the volume of passengers so brownie points to the Mayor if he can get this project over the line.
By Anonymous
Make changes that truly matter. When redeveloping Central Station, create a statement piece that will last for hundreds of years. Utilise every inch of the sight using all of the best sustainable ecological innovations.
Create something that becomes a positive part of the city.
The image in the picture looks like a short term vanity project, which is for show and will last decades rather than centurie; anything like that will look like it’s stuck on rather than being a part of a great city.
Don’t waste time, effort and money on predictable failures.
By Charles Harding
Agree with most of the comments, Central Station needs to be top notch and fit for purpose for the next 20 years and with a design that will age well. We also need Moorfields Station and surrounding area desperately upgrading and fitting for its location and usage.
By GetItBuilt!
The Central Line must be diverted away from Lime Street by using the Wapping tunnel to Central Station. Through trains should run from Southport, Ormskirk/Preston, Kirkby /Wigan to South Parkway, St Helens, Warrington and Wigan, without any of them terminating at Central Station. This would improve the capacity of the existing platforms and only require better access and infrastructure. Platform capacity thus released at Lime Street could be used for additional long distance services to London, Manchester (new line ), Plymouth ( via Bristol) Cardiff ( via Shrewsbury) and Edinburgh. An underground travelator from LimeSt to Central Station would provide a link between local train services at Central to long distance services at Lime Street
By Forward Thinker