CPOs to be used to speed up Wirral’s new £40m shopping centre

Mar 25 2008 by Liam Murphy, Liverpool Daily Post

COMPULSORY purchase orders are to be used to push ahead with a major regeneration plan in Wirral’s shopping centre.

The £40m supermarket-based scheme on Grange Road, in Birkenhead, was approved by planners after almost four years in development.

Robert Shaw, of Cheshire-based Castlewood Developments, said although they own the freehold, the compulsory purchase order powers were to ensure tenants moved in time for the start of building works, expected to be later this year.

The scheme has been support-ed by Wirral council’s cabinet which has approved use of com-pulsory purchase orders to shift the scheme forward.

Mr Shaw said: “We own all the land – it’s just to make sure all the tenants keep to the timetable.”

The scheme includes a 95,000sq ft supermarket, believed to be an Asda, built on Grange Road, near the Pyramids shopping centre, stretching back over the car park behind. Additional parking would result in 700 spaces to replace 400 which would be lost.

The developers behind the scheme, which is expected to create 400 jobs, say plans for the foodstore are well developed.

Off-site work has started and Mr Shaw said they hoped to begin on site this autumn, with the hope of completion and trading by the end of 2009.

He admitted it had been a long process with delays to the expected start date of early this year, adding: “It’s quite a big lead-in for a programme of this size.”

Plans for the super-market were first reveal-ed in 2004 and they were approved that year but the complexity of building has delayed work, and changes have been made to the original scheme to fit in with the supermarket operator’s requirements.

Mr Shaw said the scheme had taken much longer than anyone had expected because it was important to minimise disrup-tion to existing businesses while work on the development takes place. However,. some disruption is expected because of its proximity to the busy Charing Cross junction.

He said the cost of the scheme had risen from around £30m to £40m.

Deputy leader of the council Phil Davies, also a councillor for Birkenhead, said it was fantastic news for the town and what “we have long wanted”.

It follows news that Birkenhead Market owner Larry Embra plans to redevelop land off Europa Boulevard with a £25m scheme to build a hotel, casino and office space near Conway Park Station.

liammurphy