Liverpool gateway proposals go on show

Designs for a new event space outside St George’s Hall are to be shown to the public over the next two days.

The project involves expanding the current plateau into Lime Street to create an improved gateway experience, and forms part of the £45m Liverpool City Centre Connectivity scheme.

Sessions will be held between 10am and 6pm at Central Library today, and at No. 1 Mann Island tomorrow.

The widening of the St George’s plateau is to begin in spring 2019 and will see Lime Street reduced to a single carriageway, with traffic redirected down St John’s Lane. It will also include the installation of a new water feature at the southern end of the plateau, which lies within the city’s World Heritage Site.

The connectivity project aims to improve Liverpools’ transport links and make the city more understandanle and walkable to visitors, with the tourism sector being so vital to the city’s future.

A key aim of the project is to achieve a major reduction in congestion by creating a new hub for buses to park and layover in, which will reduce bus traffic, and the repositioning of Queen Square bus station for all northbound routes and Paradise Street station for all southbound routes.

Liverpool’s first dedicated coach park will also be created to accommodate an increase in coach visitors to the city centre, which last year equated to 160,000 more tourists than those who arrived via the cruise terminal.

To be completed by 2020, the first stage of phase one is to begin this autumn along this schedule:

  • Summer 2018 to winter 2018 – Moorfields: Improving the footways and introducing new trees to enhance the area and the entrance into Moorfields Station.
  • Summer 2018 to winter 2018 – City Bus Hub: Creating a new bus layover with welfare facilities in Old Haymarket for buses leaving Queen Square bus station so reducing congestion and pollution in the city centre.
  • Summer 2018 to spring 2019 – Victoria Street: Public space will be upgraded, creating wider footways and options for street cafés.
  • Spring 2019 to autumn 2019 – Lime Street: Creating a new gateway into the city from Liverpool Lime Street station and a new events space for St George’s Plateau.
  • Spring 2019 to autumn 2019 – City Coach Park: Provision of one location for dedicated off street coach parking, supporting visitor to the City Centre attractions.
  • Summer 2019 to spring 2020 – Tithebarn Street: Creation of new cycleway to enhance links with Lime Street and the Waterfront.
  • Autumn 2019 to spring 2020 – Brownlow Hill: Creating a new cycle link with Lime Street, and improved public areas that create a place for enjoying and accessing the Knowledge Quarter.

A six-week public consultation was held last year on the LCCC scheme, which will receive £38.4m from the Local Growth Fund with local match funding of £6.3m and is a major part of Liverpool City Council’s £300m Better Roads programme.

The second stage of phase one will see the installation of new bridges at Canning Dock and a series of highways improvements along The Strand, with work scheduled to begin in 2019.

Councillor Ann O’Byrne, deputy mayor of Liverpool, said: “Liverpool’s international appeal to visitors and investors has blossomed over the past decade and a widened St George’s plateaus is going to create a major new event space for the city.

 ‘’As well as enhancing a major gateway into the city this new scheme also addresses many of our current and future needs to improve the city centre welcome and provide an experience befitting a world class city.

‘’With a growing residential population, a huge rise in visitors and major developments in the pipeline, how we navigate around the city centre needs a radical rethink in key locations and some major improvements.”

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