Eamonn McManus: Regeneration partnership 'can turn a page in St Helens history'

McManus, the chairman of the St Helens Economy Board as well as the owner of St Helens rugby league club, led support from the business community following the confirmation of the plans for the transformation of the borough.

On Friday St Helens Council and The English Cities Fund (ECF) confirmed they are working together on proposals for a 20-year partnership that would see a variety of sites benefit from redevelopment.

An extraordinary meeting of St Helens Council's cabinet took place to agree heads of terms with the ECF for a partnership, which has been hailed as “game-changing”.

Limited detail of the initial agreement has been released at this stage, however, the council says bulldozers could move in within the next 12 months to begin changing the landscape of St Helens town centre.

The lanscape of St Helens town centre could begin to change within the next 12 months

It adds that early phases of work could see £200m of commercial and leisure investment in St Helens town centre. The investment could include new homes, revitalised retail spaces, top quality offices or hotel accommodation, according to St Helens Council.

The ECF has experience of transforming areas, with the regeneration of the Chapel Street and New Bailey areas of Salford among the most significant examples.

The 50 acre area of Salford has seen a once derelict and deprived area of the city being transformed to provide mixed tenure housing, office developments, hotels, new multi-storey car parking and enhanced public realm facilities.

McManus, who was the driving force behind the creation of the £30m Saints stadium at the former United Glass site – one of the biggest developments in St Helens’ modern history , said: “This partnership between English Cities Fund and the council will be an absolute game-changer, injecting hundreds of millions of pounds of new investment into our borough.

“It will turn a new page in the history of St Helens, and I believe over the next decade we will see our town centres transformed, with new homes springing up, retail space rejuvenated, offices and hotel accommodation developed and public and open spaces improved.”

Eamonn McManus

McManus, who leads the board of business people who aim to promote St Helens and attract investment to the borough, added: “Our plans for economic growth will focus on creating community wealth and opportunities for local people, bringing confidence back to the town, and inspiring ambition.”

Despite a degree of cynicism about the announcement on social media, mainly from people frustrated and wary of false dawns of the past after previous big council announcements, the St Helens business community has welcomed the proposals.

Among those was John Tabern, of the St Helens Business Club, who wrote on Twitter: “Great announcement from St Helens Council regarding the partnership with English Cities Fund.

“A partner with a proven track record of delivery on the scale and ambition #StHelens deserves.”

Meanwhile, the St Helens North MP Conor McGinn said the announcement was a good day for St Helens and welcomed news the proposals earmarked the regeneration of Earlestown town centre as one of its key aims.

The ECF has also worked on places in London, Liverpool and Plymouth to deliver regeneration. Council documents add that the ECF is a joint venture limited partnership between Muse, Legal & General and Homes England "which was originally established by the Labour Government in 2001 to drive greater institutional and private investment in English towns and cities".

It was set up to identify the "causes of urban decline and establish a vision for Britain’s cities based on the principles of design excellence, social well-being and environmental responsibility".

With initial investment of £100 million, the fund has delivered development worth of £1.6 billion into five local authorities.

On Thursday, the ECF’s board agreed initial heads of terms to enter into partnership with St Helens Council. The extraordinary meeting of the council’s cabinet took place to give their seal of approval to the partnership.

Speaking at the meeting, Phil Mayall, ECF regional director, said: “We’re immensely excited by the challenge – and it is a challenge.

“We’re both going into a partnership knowing the full scale of the challenge, but we’re immensely excited by that.”

A report that went before cabinet said development in the early phases may require investment of up to £200 million from various sources of funding.

Mr Mayall said the biggest challenges is making St Helens town centre “investable” and then making it “viable”, insisting that the two things are not the same.

“At the moment we need to make the town investable,” he said.

“We need the people of St Helens and external people – but principally the people of St Helens – to look at the town centre and say, when I start my new business, I want to start it there.

“When I’ve saved up my deposit for a new home, I want to live there. I want to bring my family here. I want to work, rest and play in the town centre.

“That’s the first challenge. That’s what we need to do working as a partnership and from that you grow confidence. And that’s when the town centre becomes viable again.”