A NEW partnership that could unlock regeneration opportunities is set to be discussed by St Helens Borough Council.

Cabinet members are set to decide on plans to support a new city region partnership focusing on supporting regeneration and delivering homes with national agency Homes England.

At its meeting on Wednesday, July 10, the cabinet will discuss aims to sign up to a memorandum of understanding with its partner councils across the region to create a Strategic Place Partnership, a joint approach to developing the area.

It is hoped that the move can help transform peoples' lives by creating "high quality affordable homes".

The Strategic Place Partnership model created by Homes England is already in place in other areas of the country.

St Helens has previously had work commissioned by Homes England to gather information on unlocking regeneration and affordable housing growth and the potential steps needed to make the most of the opportunities in the borough.

Councillor Richard McCauley, cabinet member for inclusive growth and regeneration, said: “This is an exciting opportunity for us to put St Helens Borough in a prime position to deliver high quality and affordable homes for our residents.

"Our existing work with Homes England puts us at a significant advantage to take up the opportunities this new partnership could bring.

“We want everybody to be able to have a home that feels safe and secure. The data shows the positive impact that having a warm safe and secure place to live improves a person’s life chances. Sadly there are far too many people in our borough facing homelessness due to unaffordable and insecure tenancies and we want to do everything in our power to address this problem.

“Our Housing Strategy clearly states our ambition to work with a range of housing partners to make sure the right homes are being built to meet our housing needs.

"The partnership is not a commitment for investment or funding, but a document focused on key priorities that can be supported to help speed up things like building affordable housing.”

The partnership approach could support St Helens Borough Council’s aims for regeneration and growth, which includes the regeneration of St Helens and Earlestown town centres; the opportunities for Parkside in Newton-le-Willows; housing opportunities at places like Moss Nook and Bold Garden Village and much more.

Should the Cabinet approve the plans it will then go to the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority for final approval from all members.