RGF funds secured to redevelop Stanley Dock
LIVERPOOL’S Stanley Dock is to be refurbished as part of a programme to regenerate North Liverpool which has received £25m from the Regional Growth Fund.
The initiative, known as the North Liverpool City Fringe Employment and Investment programme, has been developed by economic development company Liverpool Vision alongside Stanley Dock Properties and The Eldonians Group.
The programme is centred on an area between Liverpool’s city centre and the new Enterprise Zone planned around Peel’s Mersey Waters scheme, and its partners have estimated that it will create 1,780 jobs and safeguard a further 2,280 posts in North Liverpool.
It will provide funding to kick-start the redevelopment of a former tobacco warehouse at Stanley Dock and support Eldonian Group’s plan to develop a low carbon heat and energy plant.
It will also provide business support, development inventives and high-speed broadband for the area.
Ian McCarthy, director of programmes for Liverpool Vision, said: “This funding provides a tremendous boost to the economic prospects of North Liverpool and Sefton.
“Partners have presented a compelling case to government to help kickstart major projects and remove barriers to investment in this underperforming area, which is so close to the city centre.
“I’m confident this will now stimulate further private sector investment, and employment opportunities.”
Pat Power, development director behind the Stanley Dock Project, said: “This is a very exciting day for North Liverpool.
“For a long time, the tobacco warehouse has been a monument to the lack of investment in the area, but this funding will now be the trigger for major redevelopment in the North Docks in the way in which Albert Dock was 20 years ago for the central docks area.”
Cllr Malcolm Kennedy cabinet member for regeneration and tourism, said: “This is great news for the city. It will give a major impetus to the regeneration of the area and to the green energy agenda which will benefit the city as a whole.
“This approval provides the bridge between the transformed city centre and the tremendous investment opportunities in North Liverpool.”
Lawrence Santangeli, chief executive of the Eldonian Group, said: “Eldonian Group has had aspirations to develop a project which could help combat fuel poverty across the city.
He said the announcement would “allow us to attract further investment from major energy companies to help deliver on these wider aspirations”.
