Knowsley's Huyton bid aims to support a £127m town centre regeneration strategy. Credit: Knowsley Council

Knowsley hunts partner for £127m Huyton overhaul 

The creation of an 81,000 sq ft council headquarters features among the proposals for a 10-year project to transform the town centre.

To bring the £127m project forward, Knowsley Council is seeking a development management partner to transform Huyton Village, and has launched a tender process with the aim of appointing a developer by next March. 

As well as a new council hub, the scheme could see offices, a hotel and homes delivered in the town centre. 

Developers have until 6 September to apply for the job. 

“The continued regeneration of Huyton Village Centre is a key element of the borough’s post-Covid recovery,” said Cllr Tony Brennan, cabinet member for regeneration and economic development.

“The wider plans for Huyton Village Centre will have a real transformational effect and be of benefit to the whole borough. It’s an exciting time for Huyton and I look forward to seeing our development plans progress.”

The project is to be underpinned by a masterplan drawn up by architect Allies & Morrison and real estate consultancy GL Hearn, which was adopted by the council in 2017. 

That masterplan sets out a programme of 53 projects for phased delivery over the next decade.  

The main project would be a redevelopment of Huyton’s seven-acre Civic Campus site, where the council currently has its home. 

This element of the project would comprise a new council head office set around a village green, incorporating the relocated Huyton Cenotaph. 

Currently, council staff are housed in six buildings across the site. The new council offices would see the authority’s 1,200 staff consolidated into one building.   

Last December, Place North West reported that the council would launch a formal tender process to appoint a development partner in January, but this was delayed. 

The first project within the wider masterplan will be to demolish The Venue, a former events space on Civic Way. 

After closing in January 2020, the council-owned site is to be knocked down and converted into a 57-space temporary car park with a view to redeveloping the site at a later date.   

Other elements of the 10-year masterplan include improvements to Derby Road and the station gateway:

  • Derby Road – demolition and redevelopment of the multi-storey car park and adjoining land to create a leisure-led mixed-use anchor to Derby Road. This could potentially incorporate the relocation of Huyton Library with an expanded community and cultural offer, a market-driven leisure and residential offer, and short-stay visitor car parking and a cycle hub
  • Station gateway – redevelopment of the rail gateway to create an improved sense of arrival into Huyton, incorporating a new public space and station presence on the Village side of the railway line. This proposal is anchored by the remodelling and reorientation of Nutgrove Villa to create a new health and wellbeing hub to face the Station

Your Comments

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It appears to me that when the local economy is recovering from lockdown Knowsley Council should have other things to preoccupy itself with than an ‘improved sense of arrival’ at Huyton.

By Eric Daland

It’s all very good but what about the villages they need improvement ie Whiston

By Fred Caton

Huyton Village has been an eyesore for years and needs proper planning to resolve it, as Lathom Road is a mess, and the traffic flow is poor.
It is proposed that Huyton Hey Road extends to form a straight link with Rupert Road which is a great improvement, and there is no harm in making the Village generally more attractive , including around the station.

By Anonymous

This will be the fourth different location for the library in my lifetime. Why dont they just stick it on wheels then they could move it around whenever they feel the need instead of wasting millions of pounds re-locating it? Just smacks of total incompetence that it has to be re-located time after time.

By DL

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