Deal reached on major town centre regeneration

REGENERATION specialist St Modwen has agreed a deal with Knowsley Council on the development Kirkby town centre on Merseyside.

This follows St Modwen’s £35.8m acquisition of the property in November. The company has since been working with the local authority to develop plans for the town centre.

An outline scheme has been designed which will comprise of a supermarket, and in the region of 100,00 sq ft of new retail floor space.

The outline scheme has already drawnn significant interest from a number of national retailers and St Modwen says it is in advanced talks with major food retailers to anchor the new scheme.

St Modwen projects director Paul Batho said: “From the minute we acquired Kirkby Town Centre we have made it our priority to drive forward immediate improvements and this agreement with Knowsley Council now paves the way for wider, more significant change in the centre.

“Our plans will see the strengthening of the existing town centre and the provision of new accommodation to be developed to accommodate the requirements of modern retailers.

“We have received very strong interest from both retailers and leisure operators, so much so we hope to also be able to introduce a leisure offer to the town which would be anchored by a cinema.

“We will be undertaking public consultation on our plans in the next few months and we are on track to submit a formal planning application later this year.”

Knowsley Council’s cabinet member for regeneration and economic development, Cllr Mike Murphy, said: “I’m delighted that we are making real progress towards the redevelopment of Kirkby Town Centre.

“The council and our partners have delivered major multi-million pound improvements to the town centre and wider Kirkby area in recent years.

“I’m now very much looking forward to working with St Modwen to bring forward the much-needed retail and leisure developments which will transform the town centre for the benefit of our residents, businesses and visitors.”