Glass Futures bags further £15m backing

Wirral Council is inviting the public to shape a 15-year masterplan for New Brighton, which proposes an outdoor swimming pool and other developments to regenerate the seaside town.

Wirral Council is due to accept the housing provider’s reduced offer of £1.2m, down from £2.1m, for the grade two-listed Ravenswood House after the building was damaged by fire in March. 

Liverpool City Region’s Combined Authority has approved a further £650,000 to support Sefton Council’s plans to redevelop the Strand mall and Bootle town centre.

The council has set out a revised timeframe for the preparation and adoption of its local plan, including consulting on the document from February and extending its lifespan by two years.

Four projects across Liverpool City Region, including the redevelopment of Littlewood Studios and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, have received a combined total of £26m from Whitehall’s Getting Building Fund. 

The planned transformation of the market has taken a step forward after the council bagged a seven-figure grant, enabling the project to complete this financial year subject to approval of a business case being submitted in September.

The council has informed the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government that it needs extra time to submit its long-awaited local plan, despite pledging to meet the June deadline earlier this summer.

The Greater Manchester and Liverpool mayors said town centre regeneration plans could take a different course in the wake of the pandemic, and pressed the Government to deliver adequate funding to help the region emerge from lockdown.

Steve Rotheram, Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, has set up an independent commission aimed at creating a vision for 17 town centres to ensure their “prosperous and sustainable long-term future”.