Multiple Liverpool city region housing associations will work with local authorities to create a Liverpool to Bootle New Town, with 10,000 new homes, despite Government not backing the project. Tony McDonough reports
A powerful alliance of Liverpool city region housing associations says its members are ready to make sure the Liverpool to Bootle New Town becomes a reality.
First unveiled in late 2024, the proposed development, called Liverpool North, would comprise 10,000 new homes and straddle the border between Liverpool and Sefton, stretching from the north of the city to Bootle.
However, at the Labour Conference in Liverpool at the start of the month the Government unveiled a list of 12 New Towns that it had agreed to back – and Liverpool North was not among them.
Immediately after the announcement the leaders of Liverpool and Sefton Councils, Liam Robinson and Marion Atkinson, as well as Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram, vowed the New Town would go ahead with or without Whitehall backing.
It would be located north of Everton FC’s Hill Dickinson Stadium at Bramley Moore Dock and includes the Toffee Trail between Goodison and Hill Dickinson Stadium, the Red Walk from Anfield into the city Centre as well as opening up and creating access to the canal between Sefton and Liverpool.
Housing associations Torus, Onward, Plus Dane, Riverside and One Vision have been pencilled in to help deliver the huge scheme. All are members of Liverpool City Region Housing Associations (LCRHA), a powerful alliance of 22 housing associations.
LCRHA’s recently-appointed chair Claire Griffiths said its members were ready and willing to work with the local authorities and the combined authority to turn the vision into a reality.
In August LBN revealed that housing associations created £155m in social value across all six boroughs of Liverpool city region in 2024/25. Claire, who is also chief executive of Cobalt Housing, said that it was in that spirit the LCHRA members were determined to push forward with the New Town.
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She told LBN: “Building and managing homes are obviously the core functions of our member associations. But we are all united in our mission to go beyond that and to help create and nurture thriving communities across the city region.
“Liverpool North New Town represents a once-in-generation opportunity to transform the north Liverpool to Bootle corridor which is already seeing an unprecedented volume of new development.
“From Liverpool Waters to Ten Streets, to the Hill Dickinson Stadium and up to Bootle town centre, which is in the midst of a major regeneration project, that whole corridor is enjoying an incredible renaissance.
“How amazing it would be to add to that a whole new town, a community comparing high quality, energy-efficient homes. Liverpool’s northern docklands once teemed with thousands of people every day. We can help bring the area to life once again.”
Liverpool North would span 5km between Bootle and Liverpool and include Everton, Anfield and Kirkdale. It would see the transformation of a number of brownfield sites.