The delegation with councillors, council officers and partners at the town hall
The delegation with councillors, council officers and partners at the town hall

St Helens Borough’s extensive transformation plans were on show for a team from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

Delegates from the department took in a tour of regeneration sites including St Helens Towns Fund projects like The World of Glass Healthy Communities to understand how the borough would benefit from the up to £25m on offer through the funding and visited  Earlestown town centre to see how the £20m from the Levelling Up Fund will be put to use and the Parkside Link Road to see works that are progressing.

They also heard more about the plans for regeneration with partners The English Cities Fund for both Earlestown and St Helens town centres, including the masterplans for both towns and the vision for historic buildings like The Gamble and Earlestown Town Hall.

Councillor Richard McCauley, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Planning, said: “We believe that St Helens Borough is a place that can continue to lead by example when it comes to ambitious regeneration plans that are fit-for-the-future, with many schemes ready to go or already in motion. These projects like our town centre masterplans, alongside key economic areas of growth at the likes of Parkside and Omega West, show that our borough can punch well above its weight as the country looks to grow. 

“We will continue to work with our partners at BEIS and it was great to be able to show them in person many of the projects they have been reading about to understand the real potential our borough has to improve prosperity for our residents and the country as a whole.” 

Thomas Frater, Area Director, North West and Northern Powerhouse, BEIS, said: 

“I am grateful to have had the opportunity to visit St Helens to conduct an informal yet informative tour of the town to showcase the noteworthy initiatives and developments being undertaken. I was particularly eager to explore the regional priorities and observe the strategies employed through Towns Fund and other funding sources in addressing them. I am impressed by the strong representation of local partners and consider it to be a testament to the high level of engagement with government policies and the valuable role that the area team can play as facilitators and interpreters of government positions within the community.”

Posting on Facebook following the visit, Council Leader David Baines said:

“Spent today discussing and showcasing the massive regeneration opportunities in our borough with representatives from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Department for Levelling Up, the Council, Town Deal Board, ECF, The World of Glass, Glass Futures, Langtree and Parkside, Conor McGinn MP and colleagues from Cabinet.
We took a walk around St Helens town centre to see the opportunities there and discuss our plans for a larger, more modern and sustainable bus station, office accommodation, hotel, residential, retail and market (shown on the great 3D model 📸 below), and looked inside the Gamble to talk about the plans to bring that back into use. We also discussed our 8 town deal projects.
Walking down Hall Street, we then went to the World of Glass, Cannington Shaw and Glass Futures.
Taking a coach then we visited Earlestown to showcase our plans for the market square, railway station and town hall, which will be delivered with the help of the £20m funding we secured yesterday, and then it was onto Parkside to meet Langtree partners and tell the government reps about the huge potential of the site.
Back down the M62 to see Omega West, and then back to St Helens town hall.
And that isn’t even everything we *could* have shown them, but it’s all we could fit in a day!
There is so much to be excited about 🙌
3D model of St Helens town centre phase one plans
3D model of St Helens town centre phase one plans
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