CONCERNS have been raised by independent councillors over a reported lack of communication regarding the multi-million-pound regeneration plans set to transform Earlestown.
Following a slow decline of Earlestown's historic market square and high street, the £20m secured from the Levelling Up Fund is viewed as a lifeline to revitalise the town.
The multi-million-pound investment is set to reimagine the town's market square, restore Earlestown Town Hall, and make significant improvements to the local train station, and many traders feel that the investment can't come quickly enough.
However, frustrations have grown around a "wall of silence" as independent councillors report they have not had responses to queries for months.
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To gauge feedback around the proposals, St Helens Council and its regeneration partner, the English Cities Fund, held a series of consultations around Earlestown between November and December last year.
This feedback is being used to formulate an official planning application, but independent councillors representing Earlestown have grown concerned as they say further questions they have raised have been ignored since November.
These frustrations have intensified, the councillors added, as they often hear updates about the developments on social media, although the council say that ward members have been "briefed at every step of the process" and there is "a lot of work going on behind the scenes" to get the proposals finalised.
Independent councillor for Newton-le-Willows West, Terry Maguire, said: "When Councillor Collier and I were elected to represent the Newton-le-Willows West Ward, which contains the Earlestown regeneration project, we believed that we would be well informed of progress and that we would be given updated information to enable us to answer residents and business enquiries.
"Sadly, this is rarely the case, and we often wait for other councillors, from outside our ward to post on social media.
"Most of the townsfolk appear excited about the prospect of a newly refurbished market and town centre, and so are we.
"However, apart from the obvious exterior works on the town hall, we have no update on the next stages.
"We have hit a ‘wall of silence'. We have both emailed many questions about the project with unanswered emails for over a month, either from council officers or the English Cities Fund.
"We find it very poor form to not receive a reply and not keeping ward councillors involved, the people of our town elected us to represent them and relay information about all current happenings in our town.
"Since the second round of consultations in November, we have heard nothing despite being promised that reserved matters planning would be submitted before the end of 2023. This didn't happen and still hasn’t."
With the regeneration plans proposing to transform Earlestown, Cllr Maguire explained that he raised questions over parking solutions, the location of new market toilets, if contractors had been tendered, and when the works will begin.
As the Levelling Up Fund requires the full £20m to be spent by the end of next March, Cllr Maguire relayed concerns that these queries are not being answered when there is a set time limit on the funding.
He also questioned why the asbestos survey, which is set to take place at Earlestown town hall, was not carried out during the external refurbishment works last year.
In response, the council said that there are not always answers to questions until a key milestone has been reached, and some elements of the programme may not initially be released publicly if it is commercially sensitive.
Explaining the situation from his perspective, Cllr Maguire added: "We seem to be at a stage where no new information is being given and our emails are being ignored.
"Lack of transparency is one of the primary reasons that we have independent councillors in Newton and how can we ever expect the people to view the council in a positive light if we continue to shut them out.
"When you walk around our town, as we do regularly, talking and listening to businesses, they are barely surviving. They have recently lost footfall from the Wilkos closure, and the Markets are not really being given much support to thrive.
"We need some certainty and to create some new optimism as traders are losing hope, some have already given up and left town.
"This is not what we want, we want to encourage businesses to arrive and for them to commit to our town, that won’t happen with the uncertainty we appear to have now.
"To give the residents and businesses the encouragement they need, they need to see the plans submitted, an updated timetable, a schedule of works and to see the street works and market works begin.
"The vision, the pictures and the promises are great but why have we suddenly come to a stop and emails being ignored, and if there is a problem, to let the public know."
In response to the independent councillor's concerns, a spokesperson for ECF and St Helens Borough Council, said:
“The first of the applications necessary for the market-led regeneration of Earlestown was submitted to the council's Planning Department in December 2023, with a total of six public consultation events held late November to early December, all of which helped to inform the detailed planning application which will be submitted imminently.
"There is lots of work is going on behind the scenes with this multifaceted programme of regeneration.
“Numerous surveys and investigation works are taking place in the Town Hall, and design and contractor procurement works continue as the project team prepares for the delivery phase to begin.”
In relation to the councillor's claims, the spokesperson added: "Ward members have been kept briefed at every step of the process of the regeneration of Earlestown town centre, with information shared with them when it is available and before being released to the public domain.
"Regeneration on this scale is a complex and multifaceted process of which there are defined stages and key milestones.
"It is not until a stage is complete and a key milestone has been reached that the answers to questions are available.
"In addition, there are also elements of the programme that are commercially sensitive and are therefore not able to be released into the public domain.”
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