Liverpool City Region unveils pioneering Industrial Strategy Zone to drive economic growth

LIVERPOOL City Region have unveiled a pioneering new Industrial Strategy Zone (ISZ) to drive growth and deliver thousands of jobs, just hours after the new:- �2bn LCR Investment Fund was unveiled, it brings together the City Region's:- 'Life Sciences Innovation Zone' and 'Freeport' programmes to offer investors a coherent package of support and to accelerate and de risk property investments.

It will scale delivery of investment opportunities in key sectors identified in the Liverpool City Region Growth Plan, including:- health and life sciences, advanced manufacturing, digital and tech, maritime and logistics; that leverage major private sector investment and drive Regional productivity and national innovation.

The Zone features 6 designated tax sites, including:- leading science and innovation campus Sci-Tech Daresbury, Maghull Health Park and Parkside in St Helens, offering fiscal incentives to expanding and relocating businesses coupled with a long-term funding mechanism to support future infrastructure developments.

It also provides customs benefits at specified sites over a:- 45km wide area for businesses involved in international trade.

The Zone aligns with the Government's Industrial Strategy and will accelerate delivery of nationally significant projects through:-

Investment levers including:- �185m Government funding through the ISZ Programme and long-term mechanisms for future funding of infrastructure at key sites.
Streamlined planning process with existing permitted development rights, Consent Orders and adopted masterplans at key ISZ sites.
Site assembly, infrastructure and connectivity with ISZ locations strategically chosen for their access to rail, road and sea networks, and tens of millions of pounds already invested in connecting and unlocking key sites.
Occupier benefits including:- favourable tax and customs incentives and sector specific scale-up and investment programmes.

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region said:- "We're on a mission to drive investment to the Liverpool City Region, and through our Life Sciences Innovation Zone and Freeport we have powerful levers to attract innovators, investors and businesses from across the globe. The launch of our pioneering Industrial Strategy Zone marks a transformational moment bringing these 2 programmes under 1 roof to offer investors a streamlined pathway to support their entry and expansion into the Liverpool City Region. Coupled with our new �2bn LCR Investment Fund, this is a once in a generation opportunity to accelerate productivity, attract global investors, and deliver thousands of high quality jobs, powering a more prosperous, innovative and resilient economy for decades to come."

As the UK's largest western facing port handling:- 45% of transatlantic trade, Liverpool City Region is:- 1 of only 3 places in the UK to have both:- Innovation Zone and Freeport status.

The Life Sciences Innovation Zone is accelerating the global reach of 1 of Europe's largest life sciences clusters and is expected to generate �800m of Government and private investment and create:- 8,000 jobs.

It is supporting key developments across the City Region including:- Knowledge Quarter Liverpool, Maghull Health Park and Sci-Tech Daresbury.

Meanwhile, the Freeport has the potential to add �850m to the local economy and create:- 14,000 jobs by acting as a catalyst for growth in sectors such as:- advanced manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, logistics and clean energy.

Primed to stimulate a:- high wage, high skill, high productivity economy, the Industrial Strategy Zone brings together the 2 programmes with a total of �185m of Government funding to stimulate investment and accelerate delivery of high class infrastructure.

The Zone will also drive world leading innovation, while supporting businesses to start, scale and invest and training future talent.

The 6 tax sites are located at:-

Sci-Tech Daresbury
St Helens Manufacturing and Innovation Campus
Maghull Health Park
Wirral Waters
Parkside, St Helens
3MG in Halton.

A key feature is a scheme allowing Councils to retain business rates from new properties at specified tax sites for the next 25 years, with the money ring fenced for projects to further develop premises and capability.

The Combined Authority will work alongside investors to maximise opportunities through a full range of debt, equity and joint delivery models.

The Industrial Strategy Zone sites are strategically positioned for their access to:- rail, road and sea networks. The Parkside Freeport tax site in:- St Helens has already benefitted from:- �60m investment in a link road connecting the site directly to the M6 motorway and �8.5m of ISZ funding is unlocking development of:- MEA Park West, Wirral Waters.

Occupier benefits provide a supportive fiscal setting for businesses at key phases of their growth and product development.

Liverpool Music Month and the Liverpool City Region wide:- 'Summer of Music'

LIVERPOOL'S famous music scene will be celebrated this May as a new initiative, Liverpool Music Month, is launched.

Delivered by Culture Liverpool and Sound City, the programme will run from:- Friday, 1 May to Sunday, 31 May 2026 and will see live performances, cultural events, and community activity take place throughout the City Region.

Liverpool Music Month's May long celebration of live music spotlights the artists, venues and communities that have made Liverpool a UNESCO City of Music, and the programme is twinned with New York Music Month, an established fixture in New York City's cultural calendar since 2017.

Creating a transatlantic partnership between 2 of the world's great music cities:- 'Liverpool Music Month' celebrates both cities' standing as historic Centers of trade, their musical legacies and the new generations of artists shaping their futures, strengthening international cultural ties through a shared celebration of music.

Liverpool City Council's Cabinet Member for Health, Wellbeing and Culture, Councillor Harry Doyle, said:- "As a City, we are incredibly proud of our famous musical heritage, as well as our new generations of emerging talent who continue to put us on the map. From major concerts, events, and festivals featuring global artists, to the small independent venues, pubs, and bars brimming with local musicians, Liverpool really does have music running through its veins. Our City is alive with music on any given day of the week, but this summer promises to be an even bigger showcase of everything that makes Liverpool 1 of the greatest music cities in the world. We can't wait to bring artists, venues, communities, and visitors together, in May and beyond, to celebrate our incredible music scene in true Liverpool style."

Kicking off:- 'Liverpool Music Month,' is:- 'Sound City Festival,' which brings both home grown and international talent to wider prominence over the weekend of:- Saturday, 2 May to Sunday, 3 May 2026.

The Dark Reign Metal Fest also takes place at Birkenhead's Future Yard on:- Saturday, 2 May 2026, and performances by:- Emmy Lou Harris, The Longest Johns, Kingfishr, Biird, Sunny Afternoon, James Morrison, and Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox are among those being spotlighted during the four-week-long celebration.

At the Liverpool Philharmonic there are gigs across all genres on most days including:- the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra's Celebration of the Beach Boys, Roland Gift Presents Fine Young Cannibals, Max Cooper, and US acts Hannah Wicklund and Ondara.

Vanessa Reed, Chief Executive of Royal Liverpool Philharmonic adds:- "When I was living stateside, I witnessed how New York Music Month united the industry and celebrated the artists, institutions, entrepreneurs and companies that are driving the City's next chapter. Liverpool's flourishing music scene deserves a similar spotlight. I hope this will be the start of more collaborations between the Mayors' culture and creative industry teams in sister port cities where the benefits of music in regeneration, placemaking and economic growth couldn't be clearer."

Wrapping up the month, Baltic Weekender is set to take over multiple venues across:- Saturday, 30 and Sunday, 31 May 2026, including:- Camp and Furnace and Brick Street, with a line up of up to date house music, disco, techno, bass, and grime sets.

With many events still to be confirmed, the month will also feature new commissions, pop-up performances, and community led events, celebrating the full spectrum of Liverpool's music scene from grassroots to global.

Sound City's Managing Director, Becky Ayres, said:- "Pulling together as a City is what Liverpool has always done, and we, our community of venues, artists, promoters, cultural organisations and public representatives, are doing just that this spring and summer in the name of music. Our opening Liverpool Music Month brings focus to May, a time when our communities and Regional music industry emerge from the colder months to open festival season. There's no Glastonbury this year, which will leave a huge gap in the summer plans for so many live music lovers from the Liverpool City Region, so the Summer of Music is here to more than make amends. Indoors and outdoors, we'll share in the same sense of occasion as we swap the fields for the streets and squares of our home City. Twinning with New York Music Month, another globally recognised music City, is notable, not only for deepening Liverpool and the UK's links to progressive, arts-focused cities around the world, but also reinforcing the City's international outlook. As a world capital and UNESCO City of Music, the world continues to look to us to protect our musical heritage as well as promote new talent. From the 1st rock and roll vinyl record arriving at the docks in the 1950's to the huge shows performed here by artists such as:- Foo Fighters, the shared love of music extends across the Atlantic as effortlessly as it has always done."

Liverpool Music Month has also launch an open commissioning fund inviting:- venues, promoters, artists, and music organisations to apply for support to deliver their own events, performances, training opportunities, and creative activations as part of the programme. The fund will help ensure that Liverpool Music Month reflects the creativity and diversity of the City Region's music scene, supporting grassroots activity and enabling new ideas and collaborations to take place across the Region. Funding will be allocated for:- Liverpool based artists / organisations, and projects based within:- Halton, Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral. To get involved and to find out more about applying for funding please click here.

Shira Gans, Senior Executive Director for Policy and Programmes at New York City Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment and founder of New York Music Month, said:- "From the streets of New York to the docks of Liverpool, music connects us all. As we hand the baton to Liverpool Music Month, we celebrate the shared spirit of creativity, community, and the enduring friendship between our cities. The ties between Liverpool and New York run deep: both have rich musical histories that continue to inspire generations. We're excited to see Liverpool carry forward this celebration of talent, community, and the universal language of music."

Liverpool Music Month will be followed by:- 'Liverpool Summer of Music,' a City Region wide celebration of live music and cultural events taking place from:- June through to August 2026.

Cllr Mike Wharton, Liverpool City Region Deputy Mayor, said:- "Music is at the heart of the Liverpool City Region, it's part of our DNA and we need no excuse to celebrate our musical capabilities. Our artists have inspired generations and taken the world by storm. It is why Liverpool was designated a UNESCO City of Music more than 10 years ago. We are already working on how we can build a more equitable, sustainable and innovative music industry with projects like MusicFutures and now Liverpool Music Month will be a showcase of the talent we help influence."

The programme will shine a spotlight on the full calendar of festivals, concerts, and events taking place across the Liverpool City Region, from the City Center to communities and neighbourhoods throughout the boroughs.

From the stage of The Cavern Club and global arena shows to the Region's legendary grassroots spaces, Liverpool has shaped the sound of modern music. Liverpool Summer of Music's events focus on influential independent venues, such as:- 24 Kitchen Street, The Jacaranda, and other cutting edge indoor and outdoor spaces that continue to nurture new waves of artists, and major City events including:- Foo Fighters and My Chemical Romance's huge Anfield Stadium shows, Lewis Capaldi taking over Sefton Park, and festival headline favourites:- Nile Rodgers & Chic performing at Lock and Quay in Bootle.

Liverpool Music Month and Liverpool Summer of Music build on the global momentum created when the City hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 2023, an event watched by 162 million people worldwide and which generated more than �54 million for the local economy. Liverpool Music Month will be the 1st event to capture that same energy, once again putting music at the heart of the City's cultural life and international reputation. Underlining its continued importance as a Center of musical talent and export, analysis by the BPI shows that, outside London, Liverpool produces more chart topping albums than any other UK City.

Together, Liverpool Music Month and Liverpool Summer of Music will invite music lovers from across the UK and beyond to experience the best live music the Region has to offer, reinforcing Liverpool's reputation as 1 of the world's great music cities while ensuring the benefits of music tourism are felt across the entire City Region.

Singer Songwriter, Jamie Webster, says:- "Every year I'm usually performing at festivals around this time, but this year I'll be staying in Liverpool and enjoying what our music City has to offer. Is there a better City than this place? Nothing better than when the sun is out by the Mersey and there's music on the Pier Head or having a scran on Bold Street before a gig at The Jac or catching a random acoustic set on the street. I know where I'd rather be: In my Liverpool home."

Further programme details will be announced in the coming months. For more information please visit:- LiverpoolMusicCity.Com.

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Liverpool City Region unveils pioneering Industrial Strategy Zone to drive economic growth

Liverpool Music Month and the Liverpool City Region wide:- 'Summer of Music'