A NEW partnership is being tipped to help St Helens “hit the ground running” and be “great news” for the thousands of people on the housing waiting list.

At its meeting on Wednesday, the council’s cabinet discussed plans to support a new Liverpool City Region partnership focusing on supporting regeneration and delivering homes with Homes England.

The cabinet gave its backing and endorsed signing 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.

The strategic place partnership model created by Homes England is already in place in other areas of the country and St Helens borough 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.

During the meeting, Cllr Richard McCauley, cabinet member for inclusive growth and regeneration, said: “Our housing strategy clearly states our ambition to ensure quality and accessible homes for all.

“We want to work with a range of housing partners to ensure the right homes are being built to meet both our housing needs and encourage aspiration.

“A memorandum of understanding has been developed to establish a strategic place partnership between Homes England and the Liverpool City Region to create a joint approach for place-based growth and regeneration to increase quality, pace and scale of housing delivery and sustainable communities in St Helens and it is identified as a priority area.

“This partnership will help drive delivery of new homes in the borough, with the incoming Labour Government committed to addressing the housing crisis.”

Cllr McCauley also said, together with the work the council and the Liverpool City Region has already completed, this strategic partnership will enable St Helens to “hit the ground running” with proposed new opportunities, which should be “great news for the 8,000 people on our housing list, for young people who see the housing ladder as out of reach, for those who need to upsize, and to help the regeneration of this great borough”.

As recommended, the cabinet endorsed the memorandum of understanding between Homes England and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority to establish a strategic place partnership.

Following this, it will now go to the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority for final approval from all members.