Green light for Birkenhead town centre masterplans
Two masterplans which will guide the development of Birkenhead’s town centre have been given the go ahead by councillors.
The masterplans are for Birkenhead Central - which covers the Town Centre retail area, Charing Cross and the new Commercial District - alongside an updated masterplan for the adjacent St Werburgh’s Quarter covering the east end of Grange Road bounded by Borough Road and Argyle Street.
Both masterplans were developed alongside each other and will be key planning documents for the future development of large swathes of Birkenhead as well as underpinning the council’s Local Plan which is focused on a ‘brownfield only’ approach to new delivering new homes and employment sites.
A meeting of the Economy, Regeneration and Housing Committee (March 12) approved the Masterplans. As long-term planning documents they offer a vision and potential layout to ‘guide’ future regeneration and growth within each of these two neighbourhoods. They will also be used to help in deciding planning applications in these areas.
Chair of Wirral Council’s the Economy, Regeneration and Housing Committee, Cllr Tony Jones, said:
These Masterplans give us an exciting vision of how Birkenhead could once again become a thriving and attractive town.
They give us a guide which will help this authority steer future development and ensure it is of sufficient quality and is joined up with the wider aims to revitalise the town’s central area and ensure its connections with the surrounding areas work to the very best advantage.
The Birkenhead Central Masterplan and Neighbourhood Framework is intended to help boost the prominence of Birkenhead town centre by encouraging a highly visible leisure offer, drawing people into the heart of the town.
The aim is to see strong retail/leisure mix where convenience, fashion and lifestyle retail is well catered for, family focussed chain and independent cafes and restaurants are supported, along with the introduction of a revitalised market. Also part of the Masterplan suggestions is improved public spaces making it easier for walking and cycling, as well as access to employment and open green space.
The St Werburgh’s Masterplan provides for a mix of new town centre homes taking advantage of the towns excellent rail and bus transport links. It also seeks to support the emerging new creative independent quarter at Argyle Street with living, retail and leisure uses bridging the transition from the town centre through to Argyle Street and leading onto Hamilton Square and the waterfront.
The St Werburghs Masterplan also aims to see enhanced public spaces with a family focus through an enlarged St Werburgh’s square and a new Central Square which would act as an arrival space connecting Birkenhead Central Station more clearly with the town centre area.
These Masterplans now join the Cleveland Street Neighbourhood, Northside Neighbourhood Framework, Woodside Masterplan and Dock Branch Neighbourhood Masterplan all approved at previous meetings of the committee. They form a series of interlocking frameworks across Birkenhead for how these areas can be delivered and help support Wirral’s brownfield-only Local Plan.
The New Brighton Marine Promenade Masterplan and Wallasey Town Hall Quarter Masterplans have also previously been adopted as the council’s approved planning strategy for those areas.
