A VACANT brownfield former school site will benefit from £1m of government funding to help with regeneration of an area of the town.

The Evelyn Avenue site, which was once home to Parr High School, is the subject of an investment from the One Public Estate Brownfield Land Release Fund.

The sum of £1.01m will support decontamination of the site and its preparation for redevelopment.

The brownfield site has been earmarked for much-needed high-quality new housing and its redevelopment will support the council’s wider regeneration ambitions for Parr, complementing existing programmes of activity that include improvements works at Mill Green School. The local authority says regeneration opportunities across Parr continue to be explored.

The Evelyn Avenue site, which was once home to the former Parr High School, is the subject of investment from the One Public Estate Brownfield Land Release FundThe Evelyn Avenue site, which was once home to the former Parr High School, is the subject of investment from the One Public Estate Brownfield Land Release Fund (Image: St Helens Council)

The application was part of a bid from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority for several projects and the Evelyn Avenue site was awarded the highest amount of funding in the region.

Welcoming the investment announcement, St Helens Borough Council leader Cllr Anthony Burns said: “This shows the intent we have as a council to deliver transformation of our whole borough and the support from our Liverpool Combined Authority City Region partners means that we can capitalise on opportunities like this from Government.

"Parr is an area that is starting to see regeneration projects like this coming to fruition and we will continue to look at other possible projects where we can get support from partners to transform our borough for the benefit of our communities.”

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The next steps will also see interested parties invited to find out more about the opportunities for house building on the site.

Cllr Richard McCauley, cabinet member for inclusive growth and regeneration, added: “We are determined to make the most of our brownfield land and bring it back into positive use, and the One Public Estate fund will allow us to do just that.

"We need to build more quality homes to support the wider housing market in our borough, which will help to meet the growing demands as we start to see a significant number of new jobs being created at the likes of Glass Futures, Omega, Parkside and SINA Medical, and provide children in our borough with the chance to live in their hometown in the future.”