Knowsley Council acquires big chunk of retail centre in Huyton as part of its £127m transformation of the town centre. Tony McDonough reports

Knowsley Council has taken another big step in its £127m plan to transform Huyton town centre with the purchase of a section of a retail centre.

On Monday it was revealed the authority had agree to acquire 27,000 sq ft of the 100,000 sq ft Cavendish Walk complex for an undisclosed sum from a Jersey-based landlord in receivership. Watling Real Estate was appointed LPA receiver.

In December 2023 the council’s development partner, Genr8 Kajima Regeneration, submitted plans to demolish the authority’s Municipal building and Annexe, the Computer Centre and other assets on a seven-acre site.

This will pave the way for a 10-year development plan to create a new Huyton village centre. It will see the delivery of a new mixed-used commercial district with opportunities for a hotel, office space, co-working centre, and residential accommodation.

Knowsley Council itself will be the anchor tenant on the development, occupying 80,000 sq ft of new office space.

There will also be creation of a new village green which will connect improved public spaces, an improved station gateway area and high quality event spaces on Derby Road. And there will be improvements to road, bus, and rail links.

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Chris Walker, director at Watling, said: “Knowsley Council has an ambitious10-year development plan for Huyton village centre and the sale of this part of Cavendish Walk is an important piece of the jigsaw.

“We were pleased to come to an off-market agreement with Knowsley Council that enables it to take a step further along the road toward delivery of its strategic vision for the village centre.”

LBN has asked Knowsley Council for comment.