Liverpool City Region awards £8.9m for skills facilities

The city region’s Combined Authority has agreed the capital funding through its Local Growth Fund to refurbish and re-equip colleges and training facilities to support skills and learning opportunities.

The projects that have been approved, subject to funding conditions being met, include the £3.9m conversion of the former St Winifred’s Catholic Church in Bootle to provide a centre for health and social care training in partnership with Merseycare NHS Trust.

Other awards include a refurbished welding workshop at Halton’s Riverside College and a digital training suite at St Helens Chamber of Commerce. There is also funding to improve facilities at Everton Learning Centre, Women’s Technology Training, Speke Training & Education Centre and the Greenbank Project, which provides learning and training for disabled people.

Steve Rotheram, metro mayor for the Liverpool City Region, said: “These awards have been targeted to support key priorities and ensure we have the spaces and facilities across the City Region to enable all our communities to access the skills and jobs we need to develop in every one of our six boroughs.

“I am especially delighted by the focus on groups who have traditionally been disadvantaged in terms of skills and employment. We need to nurture and develop the talents of all our people if we are to realise our full potential as a successful and inclusive City Region.”