New Ferry will benefit from a grant of more than £3m, as Wirral Council looks to overhaul the town.
The authority was not given the full amount of £4.6m it asked the government for, but the council still managed to get £3.2m for New Ferry from the Future High Streets Fund.
The town’s current regeneration plan will see more than 1,000 square metres of retail space and up to 79 homes built across three sites, including that of the 2017 explosion which devastated New Ferry.
Since the blast in March of that year, Wirral Council has been criticised for doing too little, too slowly to revive the town’s fortunes.
But now the regeneration agenda is gathering momentum.
While the plans for homes and retail spaces were confirmed last autumn, the £3.2m grant fund will pay for the partial reopening of the currently pedestrianised Bebington Road to traffic.
The barriers at the junction with School Lane will also be taken away, meaning traffic from New Chester Road will have access to Village Hall and parking spaces in the retail centre of Bebington Road.
As well as this, the council believes new short-stay parking bays on Bebington Road will encourage further footfall and make the area look better, with new benches, street lighting and landscaping also part of the plans.
Moving forward, a key priority for Wirral Council is to acquire the remaining properties in the development site which are currently in private ownership.
The council is writing to property owners to negotiate the buys, but if this does not succeed the authority is prepared to use compulsory purchase powers to drive New Ferry’s regeneration forward.
Cllr Anita Leech, chair of Wirral Council’s economy and regeneration committee, said: “Residents and businesses in New Ferry are quite rightly desperate for this transformation to take place as soon as possible.
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“They have made their views known through a number of consultations and have played a significant part in helping shape and design the plans that we are looking to take forward.
“It has been a highly complex process, however, with much of the land needed in private ownership.”
The Labour councillor added: “The council has made steady progress, through an investment of more than £1.3m, on acquiring pockets of land across the three sites and now is the time for us to conclude the purchase of the remaining land.
“This is essential to avoid any delays in appointing a development partner to bring these much-needed regeneration plans to fruition as quickly as possible.”
Fellow Labour councillor Jo Bird, who represents Bromborough, said: “Some steady progress here. One step at a time, I am delighted with the council’s announcement.”
Cllr Phil Gilchrist, who leads the Liberal Democrat group on Wirral Council, said: “During 2019 and 2020 I pressed the council to use compulsory purchase powers here.
“I always saw these as a way to break through the obstacles delaying the recovery of New Ferry.
“I hope that agreement with the owners can be reached in the months ahead.”
