A TEAM of investment policy specialists is to be assembled by Wirral Council to work on the multi-billion pound Wirral Waters scheme proposed for the borough’s docklands.
The council says it plans to recruit the team to provide "policy and planning work in connection with Wirral Waters" and related schemes.
Peel Holdings, owner of Liverpool Airport, the Manchester Ship Canal and the Port of Liverpool, and the developers behind Salford Quays, last year unveiled a £4.5bn 30-year masterplan for the Birkenhead/Wallasey dock complex.
If it goes ahead as planned, the Wirral Waters scheme would see iconic skyscrapers built along the waterfront for business, leisure and residential use.
Last night, Kevin Adderley, the council’s head of strategic development, said he expected planning applications from Peel next year – but warned it would not mean "skyscrapers springing up straight away".
Mr Adderley said they had been working "very closely" with Peel over the last 18 months and added: "You do not get £4.5bn schemes designed and implemented overnight. We have said all along this is a long-term scheme."
"And we need to be certain of what we are doing now – we do not want to do anything which might have an adverse effect on something else we want to do in 10 years."
No planning application has yet been put to the council, but if the proposals get off the ground the £4.5bn waterside redevelopment scheme would see a complete transformation of Birkenhead docks over 30 years, with 18m square feet of development.
Under the existing masterplan the scheme would create 27,000 full-time jobs and see more than 500 acres of brownfield, underused land redeveloped.
Peel’s plans also include a major retail shopping centre at Bidston Moss, and more than 11m square feet will be developed to provide 15,000 new homes.
Five million square feet of office space would be available, and there are also plans for a new marina and landscaped open areas of green space for public use.
According to Jim Wilkie, the council’s deputy chief executive, the council would need to ensure "coherence between the Wirral Waters development and the other strategic developments across the borough".
In a report to the Employment and Appointments Committee, Mr Wilkie said that, although Wirral Waters will be delivered by Peel Holdings, the council will need resources to "support the major planning applications which are expected over the next few years as part of Wirral Waters and the wider investment Strategy".
He said: "The need for clear and coherent economic policy to help determine the need for such large developments is absolutely crucial, as too is the need to be able to make the economic case to both public sector partners and central Government."
Lindsey Ashworth, development director of Peel, said it would probably be another year before they submit planning applications.
He praised Wirral council’s work on the scheme and said the current phase of work was preparation for the multi-billion scheme and included detailed work and studies to comply with planning legislation.
He said: "I’m quite sure the documentation will be as high as me when we put the planning application in."
