Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has confirmed that the Mayor has released his plans for how the city region can become ‘the best place to grow up, grow a family and grow a business.’
Through the Corporate Plan, and building on the foundations of his election manifesto, the mayor of the city region has outlined how productivity and growth can be achieved through major infrastructure investment and building on existing strengths across the region. The plan also highlights the case for deeper devolution powers in the city region.
Commenting on the plan, Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram said:
“Tackling inequality, driving inclusive growth and ensuring that we leave the next generation and the planet with a better inheritance than we received are at the core of my politics and my administration.
“I want to make Liverpool City Region the best place to grow up, grow a family, and grow a business.
“Since I was elected, we have helped tens of thousands of people into jobs; rolled out world-class publicly-owned trains; helped to build 30,000 homes for families to put down roots; given hundreds of thousands of our residents get new qualifications and begun the process of bringing our buses back into public control.
“The Liverpool City Region is a place seeped in history, a place full of pioneers and talent, While we are proud of our history, we are ready to look forward to an even brighter and more prosperous future. This is our blueprint for getting there.
“Working alongside our new Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, and his cabinet, I will ensure that the next chapter in our illustrious will not be written for us in Westminster or Whitehall – but by us here in the Liverpool City Region.”
Skills will be developed as more than 120,000 adults will be supported to gain the skills that are required around the city region, with this opening up the potential for people to secure tens of thousands of well-paid jobs. This focus will also allow young people to get the best possible start in life, as training for early years and childcare workers will be increased and a new childcare commission will be launched.
Funding for these skills programmes will amount to more than £50 million per year, however, the combined authority will push for further devolution of education for those between 16 and 19 years old as well as the Apprenticeship Levy. Further information will come from the publication of a long-term skills plan in the autumn.
Public transport is to be developed significantly, as Merseytravel will be replaced by Transport for Liverpool City Region. Alongside this, the bus network is to be fully franchised by the end of 2027 – with greater public control of train services coming as part of a new Merseyrail operating model. The new Liverpool Baltic station will be open by that year too, leading to plans to redevelop Liverpool Central Station and the opening of three new stations in St Helens, Halton and the Wirral.
A return to public housing at scale will see the delivery of well-designed, energy-efficient, affordable homes as part of efforts to tackle the housing crisis. This compliments the government’s plans to build more houses, whilst also supporting net zero ambitions through the decarbonisation of more than 1,000 homes and public buildings every year.
The combined authority has also confirmed that it will explore a return to council house building, as well as a Good Landlord Charter and the establishment of a homelessness task force.
As part of work to grow the economy - and secure the city region’s place at the forefront of innovation – the combined authority intends to expand on its relationships with the USA, Germany and East Asia, whilst also emphasising the potential of the Liverpool City Region freeport and the Life Sciences Innovation Zone to bring new businesses and investment into the region. This is expected to bring more than 20,000 new jobs, as it targets a 25% increase in foreign investment by 2030.
Image credit: Liverpool City Region Combined Authority
