£1.5m Lord Street scheme is rejected
SEFTON Council leaders say they are “hugely disappointed” after the Government rejected plans for a £1.5m scheme to regenerate the Lord Street area of Southport town centre.
The council, along with Southport BID, submitted their application for a Heritage Lottery Funding (HLF) Townscape Heritage grant after a damning report by Historic England – formerly known as English Heritage – in 2015.
The organisation described Lord Street as being in “a poor state” and getting worse, while The Promenade in Southport was said to be “very bad”, though improving.
The condition of North Meols and West Birkdale also raised concerns.
Bidding for a project in Southport was part of a two stage process: Sefton failed in a bid for a Stage 1 development grant of £67,000 which would have led to a later delivery grant of up to £1.5 million of HLF funding.
The Stage 1 funding is oversubscribed and na t i o n a l l y competitive.
It would have allowed a detailed planning and action plan phase for improving the heritage of Southport by physical improvements to build- ings, training and education along with the regeneration and strengthening links between the town centre and the seafront.
Despite receiving positive feedback from HLF about the application, Sefton just missed out in funding.
Labour councillor Daren Veidman , Cabinet M emb e r Planning and Building Control, said: “We submitted a quality bid following strong consultation and to miss out like this is hugely disappointing.
“Our bid was encour- CLLR MARION ATKINSON aged by both Historic England and the Heritage Lottery Fund, and a significant amount of time and resources were devoted to it to assure it was the best it could be.
“I would like to thank everyone involved in submitting the bid and we will now look at the feedback provided by HLF and reflect on their comments with the view of submitting again in the coming year.”
Sefton Council Cabinet Member Regeneration and Skills, Cllr Marion Atkinson, said: “We are totally committed to the overall development of Southport, and whilst this is a setback, it must be acknowledged that the areas the Townscape Heritage grant would have helped to secure interven- tion onto would have been the streets linking Lord Street and the Promenade.
“There are still many other exciting projects, grant bids, and planned investments, infrastructure improvements and initiatives for the wider Southport town centre planned.
“We had the whole hearted support of the local community for this along with the Southport BID team and while disappointing, we will continue to look for the best options for Southport which encourage further investment in the town.”
Southport Dukes Ward independent Conservative councillor David Barton said: “Whilst understandably disappointing, I am hopeful that this will only be a temporary setback for the local community.
“Verbal feedback from the HLF has indicated that this was a very strong application which only missed out on this occasion because of another regional scheme which, after initially being turned down, was successful following its resubmission this year.
“I would therefore urge the council to resubmit its application once again later this year in addition to incorporating a few amendments such as the eastern side of Lord Street.”
There are still many other exciting projects