More than 100 homes set to be created on derelict Police Station, Church, School and Pub

A derelict former Police Station, church, School and pub are amongst 5 sites in line to receive brownfield land funding that would help create more than 100 homes.

The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority will be asked to approve the addition of the projects to its funding pipeline at its 12 December meeting.

In total, the 5 projects have requested �2.8m from the Brownfield Land Fund to create 113 new homes on previously developed sites.

This extension builds on the City Region's successful delivery of the �60m Brownfield Land Fund, that is creating more than 4,500 new homes on derelict sites across the Liverpool City Region.

Cllr Graham Morgan, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Cabinet Member for Housing and Regeneration, said:- "We are working hard to tackle the housing crisis and ensure that people right across our area have a great choice of high quality homes. Building on brownfield sites is key to making that happen; there are around 700 of them with enough space to build 42,000 homes. These developments, which could be added to our project pipeline, are a great mix of schemes offering a wide range of different housing types. We need to ensure that, across our City Region, we are building homes to suit everybody."

The 5 developments proposed for inclusion in the project pipeline are:-

Sentinel Way, Aintree (Sefton): Your Housing Group (YHG) is seeking a �1,350,000 grant for a 54-unit brownfield scheme next to the Merseyrail line.
Prescot Police Station (Knowsley): Prima Group is requesting a grant of �325,000 to deliver 13 shared ownership units consisting of 7 flats in the former Police Station alongside the construction of 2 bungalows and 4 houses on the site of the former car park.
Mather Avenue (Liverpool): an 11-unit scheme to be constructed on derelict land, formerly the site of St Bernadette's Church that was demolished in 2018. Regenda Group is requesting a grant of �275,000, to deliver specialist units which will provide accommodation for adults with additional needs. The former church site is owned by the Archdiocese of Liverpool, which has agreed to offer a 125 year lease for the land to be developed as supported housing, specifically for people with learning disabilities.
St. Monica's Church, Stewart Avenue, Bootle (Sefton): a 10-unit scheme on a cleared site adjacent to the St Monica's Church Parish Centre in Bootle. Crosby Housing is requesting �200,000 to deliver a 100% social rent development.
Stork Inn, Billinge, St Helens: Torus 62 Ltd is seeking a grant of �650,000 to convert the old pub and build new properties on the adjacent brownfield site, creating 26 unit 100% affordable scheme.

The Liverpool City Region received �59.5m in Government funding to support the creation of new homes on previously developed brownfield sites. The target of enabling construction of 3,970 new homes has been smashed with 4,521 homes built.

An interim 1 year BLF Extension programme has been approved by Government with further funding of �13,895,370 for the Liverpool City Region before its successor, the National Housing Development programme, is launched in 2026.

Earlier this year, the Combined Authority approved a list of housing development projects to potentially receive the BLF Extension programme funding, and delegated authority to the Executive Director; Investment and Delivery to approve the Full Business Cases for these projects, as they come forward. These further 5 priority projects have been identified by the Combined Authority's Housing team, with the collaboration and support of the relevant Local Authorities, and the Combined Authority will be asked to add them to the project pipeline.

"There's No Money Left" - Labour are Bankrupting Sefton say Sefton Conservatives

SEFTON Council is, by its own admission, forecast to overspend by �22 million this year. Overall debt has also risen by over 66%, with debts up to �81 million, the highest increase in the entire Liverpool City Region. Sefton Conservative Leader, Councillor Mike Prendergast, has said that Labour are:- "out of their depth."

Commenting, Councillor Prendergast said:- "The ever worsening financial situation is a culmination of almost 14 years of poor choices from a Sefton Labour group who have failed to deliver. Children's Social Care was allowed, by Labour, to get to the stage where it was put into special measures by central Government and to a large extent, that has driven the poor state of Sefton's finances. Since the Inadequate rating from Ofsted, around �300 million has had to be spent fixing a vital department that was broken by Labour. That's before you get to the �42.5 million it's going to cost to pay off the loan used to buy Bootle Strand and the around �10 million loaned by Sefton Council to Sandway Homes, not a penny of which has been paid back yet. We've also got Sefton Hospitality Operations Limited, a Hospitality company that competes against local businesses, losing local taxpayers almost �1.5 million in the process. It's been a total waste of money. It's almost certain Labour are going to borrow more to finish the MLEC project in Southport as well, because of their failure to secure a building contractor sooner. This all adds up to an endless cycle of borrowing and debt. Since 2012, when Labour took control of Sefton Council, Council Tax has gone up by 50% and will go up again next year. That's hundreds of pounds more every year that all local residents are having to pay. We are all paying for this endless cycle of borrowing and debt. Local people are being made to pay for Labour's mistakes. The local elections next year, will give people across Sefton the chance to bring real change. We need to focus on local priorities; fixing our roads and pavements, maintaining our parks and heritage assets, improving our town centres and tackling anti-social behaviour, supporting local businesses and using taxpayer money wisely. We can't carry on expecting local taxpayers to bail out Labour with the never ending cycle of tax and spend we've had in Sefton since 2012."

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More than 100 homes set to be created on derelict Police Station, Church, School and Pub

"There's No Money Left" - Labour are Bankrupting Sefton say Sefton Conservatives