£70m New Brighton plans move into final stages

Jul 15 2008 by Liam Murphy, Liverpool Daily Post

A MASSIVE regeneration scheme for a Wirral seaside town is poised to begin major engineering works early next year.

And – despite its many ups and downs over recent years – the £70m Neptune development of New Brighton is taking shape.

Rob Mason, of Neptune Developments, the company chosen by Wirral Council to bring the scheme to fruition, said despite the current economic climate they were making good progress with the scheme.

The planning application for the first major engineering works has been lodged with Wirral Council and is expected to be dealt with over the summer.

This would allow work on the sensitive subject of revamping New Brighton’s marine lake to begin.

The lake was a key focus of the campaign which fought against Neptune’s plans for the resort and saw the company’s initial scheme rejected following a public inquiry.

But a revised outline planning application was later approved. The revised scheme saw the Marine Lake preserved and improved, and the abandonment of plans for apartments on the water’s edge.

If given the green light by Wirral’s planning committee, this first detailed planning application would also see work begin on the sea wall, filling in the old baths site, and moving the model boating lake.

Silt from the Marine Lake will fill in the depressions land where the former outdoor baths once stood, with the remainder being filled using aggregate from the Mersey Bar.

It had been hoped the contractors could have started at the end of the summer, but it is now thought to be January before the major works are likely to begin. Work on the first part of the scheme – the new Floral Pavilion Theatre – is also now just a few months from completion, and Neptune Developments say the building of adjacent Town Square apartments could start by the end of the summer.

These have faced delays since the initial contractor for the apartments went into liquidation before Christmas.

Since then, more contractors have bid for the work, and Mr Mason said: “We’re still negotiating on the apartments next to the theatre, but we hope to start work there in six weeks.”

But the focus is firmly on the second stage of the scheme which will feature the most controversial element – a supermarket – along with a cinema, bars, cafes, hotel and a leisure complex.

Mr Mason said the designs are being prepared at the moment but described the supermarket look as a “modernist interpretation of Art Deco”.

It is expected the initial engineering works will take four to five months and contractors say the rest of the build would take around 18 months.

liammurphy@dailypost.co.uk