Wirral Council is borrowing £2.25m to allow the next stage of a plan to build 1,600 new homes in Birkenhead to move forward. Tony McDonough reports
Wirral Council is to borrow £2.25m for “site investigations” on a 32-acre plot in Birkenhead where it wants to oversee the building of 1,600 new homes.
In what will be the biggest regeneration scheme in the town in decades, the council is seeking hundreds of millions of pounds of private sector investment to turn the Hind Street Urban Garden Village Masterplan into reality.
On Tuesday, Place North West reported the authority was to borrow £2.25m for the investigations on the former industrial site which is owned by urban regeneration specialists Ion Developments.
This cash will pay for contractor engagement and will give the funders and the council certainty over the infrastructure costs.
Spending this money will unlock the process whereby the council can enter a grant funding agreement with Homes England and Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. For the first phase of 600 homes it is looking for grant funding of £41m.
That will include £16m from the Combined Authority and £25m from Homes England. In addition the council aims to secure £214m of private sector investment. It expects to submit a planning application for the first phase this summer.
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In May Wirral Council and Ion launched a public consultation exercise on the plans that will see the Queensway Tunnel flyovers demolished. They will also include a primary school, offices, shops, cafes and restaurants, healthcare, hotels, and a multi-storey car park.
That consultation closed in June. Speaking in May, Steve Parry from Ion Property Developments said: “This development will deliver transformational benefits in Birkenhead and help regenerate the wider area.
“With such an aspirational and wide-ranging scheme, it is important that residents and stakeholders have their say.”