The £6m village of culture for Liverpool community

Mar 20 2008 by Nick Coligan

Phil Redmond,founder of Mersey Television _320

A FIVE-year plan to revitalise a Liverpool community has been revealed.

Council managers want to spend about £6m transforming the heart of Garston, bulldozing derelict shops and creating a new centre for cultural businesses.

They intend to sell off former railway sidings to generate cash for the long-awaited project to improve struggling St Mary’s Road.

That work would be done alongside ongoing multi-million pound schemes to build 700 homes in Garston’s Under The Bridge estate.

A report, due to be discussed by councillors next week, reveals how the council has thrown its weight behind the Garston Cultural Village idea.

Championed by artist Alex Corina, it would see a derelict school building in Wellington Street refurbished into a hub for creative businesses, such as jewellers, ceramicists and designers.

The council now plans to put £800,000 into the scheme, along with £160,000 from Liverpool Biennial, to get it off the ground. The cultural village would then be self- financing.

Mr Corina, who recently showed Culture Company deputy chairman Phil Redmond, (pictured), around the site, said: "We have been negotiating for two years and, although I will believe it when I see it, we have reached an advanced stage."

Officials have also drawn up plans for St Mary’s Road, which has struggled since the Garston Way bypass took away passing trade.

They describe it as "the biggest single problem" Garston faces, and plan to buy up properties so they can be renovated or demolished to make room for new developments.

The third part of the overall regeneration scheme involves supporting developers in the Under The Bridge estate, where 575 private homes and 120 housing association properties will be built over the next few years.

Cllr Marilyn Fielding, executive member for housing, said: "Garston is one of our main priorities.

"Working with partners, we have already transformed parts of the area by replacing worn-out housing, and upgrading and regenerating others."

Officials plan to sell off Dingle Bank, a former railway embankment, and land in the Under The Bridge estate to developers for housing, raising £5m.