Liverpool submits £1.4bn recovery plan to Downing Street

Liverpool has set out a £1.4bn plan to help boost the region’s post-Brexit and post-coronavirus recovery.

The city has submitted a 178-page report to the prime minister and the chancellor, which if delivered, will create 25,600 jobs, provide an additional 12,000 construction jobs and more than 9,700 apprenticeships.

Commissioned by the mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson, this fully costed post-Covid recovery strategy sets out a five-year vision that also underlines Liverpool’s key strategic role as a global gateway in post-Brexit Britain.

The LERP report focuses on four key themes – innovation, housing, employment and creativity – with the goal of providing jobs and supporting people in accessing lifelong careers in the areas which will drive the UK economy in future decades.

It identifies more than 25 shovel ready projects – most of which could begin before the end of 2020.

Totalling £1.4bn these projects include a new cruise terminal, a major housing development next to the International Festival Gardens site, the next phase of the city’s health innovation campus at Paddington Village as well as a Science and Tech Innovation Centre as part of the Liverpool John Moores University development at Copperas Hill in the city’s Knowledge Quarter (KQ Liverpool).

Before the pandemic, Liverpool was averaging £1bn a year in regeneration investment and was steadily establishing itself as a world leading destination for medical research, digital health and life sciences.

Its three universities annually educates 70,000 students and the visitor economy of the former European Capital of Culture (2008) has grown to more than £3bn a year.

The recovery plan comes days after the West Midlands Combined Authority called for £3.2bn of investment over the next three years to boost the region’s economic recovery, as part of a new blueprint.

‘This recovery plan is immensely detailed and the sheer volume of partners involved across both public and private sectors from a wide range of disciplines underlines our commitment to seize what is quite simply a once in a lifetime opportunity to reset Liverpool,’ said Mr Anderson.

‘It has been researched, analysed and fully costed and I’m confident the government will see that Liverpool means business. This recovery plan is all about partnerships – and we need the government to act as one too. The return on investment is huge, a stimulus package that will not just benefit Liverpool – but also the region and the country.’

Photo Credit – Maxssx (Pixabay)