Wirral planners give unanimous backing for £60m New Brighton development

Aug 26 2009 by Liam Murphy, Liverpool Daily Post

AMBITIOUS plans to breathe new life into a Wirral seaside town were last night given unanimous approval by councillors.

Wirral Council’s planning committee backed the detailed planing application which will see the second – and major – phase of the £60m redevelopment of New Brighton go ahead.

Delays in hearing the planning application have pushed the start date for construction back to January, according to Neptune, the Liverpool-based developers behind the scheme, but it should then be completed within 18 months.

The plans now approved allow for a new Morrisons supermarket, a 66-bed Travelodge hotel, a digital cinema, bars, restaurants, a watersports training centre, a new model boating lake, and a public lido.

Development director for Neptune, Rob Mason, could barely believe the application had been approved – some eight years after his company became involved in the redevelopment plans.

He said: “It’s absolutely brilliant, especially to hear the unanimous support and very kind comments from the councillors about the quality of the scheme.”

The development is expected to create hundreds of jobs, and boost the local economy.

The completed first phase of Neptune’s New Brighton scheme included the successful 800-seater Floral Pavilion theatre and conference centre.

Rob Mason said: “We plan to have refurbished the marine lake and completed the new promenade and the model boating lake within five months of the start. We will be maintaining the current boating lake until the new one is ready for use.

“The new supermarket will be completed next, 12 months after the start on site, ready for fit-out by the operator, Morrisons, and the new hotel, cinema and a number of the leisure buildings will be completed three months later, again ready for fit-out by the operators.