New Birkenhead regeneration plans revealed.

This afternoon, Wirral Council has revealed plans with its joint partner, Muse Developments, for the regeneration of Birkenhead town centre.
See 'Wirral View'.

"Birkenhead town centre is expected to see new commercial offices built around Conway Park train station, with outstanding transport links to the Merseyrail underground network and Liverpool and beyond."

Is this linked to Wirral Waters?

Has Big Phil understood he still has agreed to at Wirral Waters?

https://www.wirralwaters.co.uk/partners-and-government/

This looks like direct competition for the East / West float development.

Well done Phil Thinking outside the box again!!!

I wish to god this is genuine and Birkenhead gets the help and investment it so desperately needs. I fear though whilst the pretenders are in charge we will just see more short sited ill thought out ideas destroying the Wirral.

If this is genuine and does create local jobs maybe it will help justify some of Wirral Waters 12000 houses!!

Our other local propaganda paper seems to be going into overdrive at the moment, maybe Big Phil does has a plan! and guess what he will come out of this as the saviour who saved most of our greenebelt and only needed a little bit for a golf course!!!!!

There is very little agreed with Wirral Waters just lots of open promises.

And certainly not 12,000 houses at Wirral Waters, as it turns out, despite what they said originally. That's why the green belt is being threatened. If Peel committed to building what they said they'd build, the green belt would be safe. I wouldn't trust any of them as far a I could throw them - and I've got a bad arm. Hmph.

We will clearly need a new name for Europa Boulevard. I favour Brexit Boulevard, but has anyone else got a suggestion?

I always worry when I hear the word 'regeneration' used by councils.

In practice, it means vastly expensive white elephants, and the only regeneration is in 'jobs for the boys' in the council, and happy property companies who don't need to get tenants into their offices or apartments because the Council will underwrite the cost of their remaining empty.

Rip Off Boulevard. It's all about the shiny, when they promote these schemes; the people who use the place will have to put up with an awful lot of disruption, damage to businesses etc before it actually comes into being - if it ever does! I'm not holding my breath...

I can't think of a single reason why anyone would choose to work, live or seek entertainment in downtown Birkenhead when Liverpool is only minutes away.

No 'regeneration' scheme is going to change that. Shutting down the road and rail tunnels and the ferry might, but I doubt that would be very popular.

I enjoyed Liverpool in my youth but Liverpool, Manchester and London are city centres I avoid like the plague these days, too many people who have lost focus about what living is really about and instead effectively emulating a bee colony.

I think Birkenhead and Wallasey having lost control of their own docks 173 years ago impeded any hope of Birkenhead and the Wirral succeeding. This was a takeover by Liverpool because the city was, and still is, frightened of us. We have been under Liverpool's control one way or another for far too long,

Birkenhead undoubtedly would have been a city, we were bigger, richer and developing faster than many other cities in the UK despite Liverpool intentionally holding us back, as they are to this day and with Government's blessing.

Look at Deeside, Warrington, Ellesmere Port, Speke, Knowsley, Runcorn, Widnes etc, there are LARGE businesses that want to move to this area but somehow it never gets to the Wirral. Wirral's A41 business corridor although moderately well occupied is like a morgue compared to other industrial sites and has re-markedly few employees compared to the land area. Outside the Council our only main employer is a call centre and a disproportionate number of people are employed in retail compared to other industries.

If they want Wirral to develop the three essentials are completion of the M53 motorway, proper development of the docks for freight and re-instatement of a freight train service. We have been strangled with poor transportation in and out Wirral and hence the lack of proper high production industries. The current proposals are to bypass the Wirral by using the Manchester Ship Canal more, does that really make sense?

Well, I think you only have to look at the huge amount of money lavished on the 'Hamilton Quarter' before wandering around the Woodside area to see how successful these 'regeneration' initiatives are. It is like a desert. completely depopulated. The expensively restored buildings remain largely empty, the paint beginning to peel a little as the years go by. The occasional tram rolls by - empty except for a few enthusiasts baffled at the public's lack of enthusiasm for tram rides.

What do you want adding to the M53, by the way? I thought it WAS complete.

I think you have to simply accept that Birkenhead is now a dormitory area for Birkenhead. The way ahead is to build lots of new housing and improve transport links to Liverpool so the residents can get to work there. Forget attracting huge employers or manufacturers there. And forget any unrealistic ambitions of being a rival to Liverpool. It is not going to happen. It is as unrealistic as the ambitions some people seem still to have that new Brighton can be restored to the sort of holiday resort it was in its heyday.

Times change, and you have to be adaptable and move with them.

They are about to “invest” in Hamilton quarter 2. Can’t help feeling the chamber of commerce has a lot to answer for.

How can a chamber of commerce be in business itself and be competing against other businesses?

A lot of these 'regeneration' schemes are deeply idiotic. I was opposed to one council-led initiative to build a boating lake in New Ferry. The idea was to imitate West Kirby's marine lake with a barrier around the foreshore which would be filled by the tide. Hugely expensive, even at the consultation phase which was as far as it got, the mechanism of how this would 'regenerate' the area was never explained. Now was the safety aspects of such a lake in which the walkway on the barrier would be regularly overtopped by a tiderace moving faster than a man can run! Public consultation was a farce. Three alternatives were given for the public to choose from

1. A marine lake
2. A marine lake
3. A marine lake


Fortunately, it was declared a SSSI to protect waders that use the area, killing the scheme, but it was very clear that the real driving force behind it was a number of Council Employees keen to add a big project to their CVs. I managed to get a copy of the scoping document which is basically a collection of responses from various organisations who might have an interest in it. It was very negative. Mostly, nobody was keen on it with the exception of a sailing club who had been enticed by the promise of an impractical marina. But the council official working on it wanted it so the fact that it would be a white elephant didn't matter.

Cost would have originally been the key factor. But since the downturn on the high street and lots of empty shops and offices, I reckon Liverpool would offer the same or more incentives to move there over Birkenhead.

The only positives for Birkenhead is a nicer view across the river!