Hello and welcome to the midweek edition of The Southport Lead.
Amid all the focus on the town centre redesign and the planned (and very delayed and increasingly expensive) Marine Lake Events Centre it’s easy to forget plans have been formulating for another major redevelopment within the town.
Changes to Promenade are designed specifically because of the Marine Lake Events Centre (and the availability of government funding) and the council has now formally approved plans which remain contentious. Those works are the focus of today’s main story.
Southport briefing
🪧 A rally will take place in the town centre on Saturday as the Smedley Hydro employees battle to keep jobs in the town. The historic building is home to 1,200 workers from the likes of General Register Office, HM Passport Office, the Home Office and NHS Digital but the government is considering closing it down for efficiency purposes. According to the PCS union, 98% of members surveyed want the jobs to remain in Southport and warn that relocation could have a significant impact on staff, particularly those with disabilities, health conditions and caring responsibilities. Increased travel times and costs could make it impossible for some employees to remain in their roles. Staff will be joined by members of the public, the town’s MP and local councillors when the rally takes place at 11.30am on Chapel Street. The union is also questioning the case for closing the site, pointing to Smedley Hydro’s accessibility, condition and previous investment, as well as the potential costs of relocation and the loss of specialist knowledge and experience.
PCS general secretary, Fran Heathcote says: “Southport has already lost too many vital public services and good, secure jobs. Our community should not have to stand by and watch as the Government considers moving jobs out of the town without properly considering the people who depend on these services, or the staff whose lives and futures will be turned upside down. Smedley Hydro has a skilled, dedicated workforce delivering a unique national service. These are not just jobs on a spreadsheet, they are people’s livelihoods, careers and communities. They matter to the staff who do them, to the Home Office and to the future of Southport.”
🏭 Southport MP Patrick Hurley is among dozens of Labour backbenchers calling for the government to base its reindustrialisation plans in the north. The Reindustrialisation Research Group has warned efforts are doomed to fail if the government does not gain a better understanding of businesses and local economies and are calling for Andy Burnham to set clear targets for creating jobs by rebuilding the country’s manufacturing capacity and to ensure ministers are held to account against them. In a briefing paper sent ahead of today’s budget announcement, the group urge the Prime Minister to give the job of overseeing reindustrialisation to First Secretary of State Louise Haigh and base it at No 10 North.
Hurley, who is a member of the RRG, has previously spoken of the economic and political importance of this issue. “While it’s important to measure economic success through national GDP, let’s also not overlook where that growth happens, who benefits from it, and whether it creates the kind of lives people actually want. We need to ensure that jobs are secure, not concentrated in a handful of places or industries, or disconnected from the communities that need them most,” he wrote. “Many of the constituencies that will determine whether Labour governs after the next election are the very places that once made Britain’s steel, chemicals, buses, machinery and advanced components.They are coastal towns, former industrial communities and manufacturing centres where people are less interested in abstract economic statistics than in whether their children can find a skilled, well-paid job without moving away.”
🚓 A man has been charged in connection with a robbery which saw a security guard assaulted outside Santander on Chapel Street. Alexander Porter, of no fixed abode, is accused of robbery after a money bag was stolen during a delivery at the bank last Tuesday (October 20). The 46-year-old is also accused of possessing a knife in Bootle two days earlier and stealing jewellery, clothes and a bank card from a home in the town. He has been remanded into custody and will next appear on Friday 23 November at Liverpool Crown Court.
🧥 A spree of burglaries saw alcohol, a shop till and a £700 Canada Goose coat stolen from town centre shops on Friday morning. Thefts were reported from four shops between the hours of 2.40am and 3.46am and on the following day police received reports of a man behaving suspiciously outside Lidl. Joshua Alexander Johnson, of no fixed address, was arrested and subsequently charged with three burglaries and one attempted burglary. He has been released on conditional bail until his next court appearance on Friday 4 December at Liverpool Magistrates Court.
Council approves Promenade redesign with central cycle lane and new one-way routes
By Jamie Lopez
Sefton Council has formally approved its proposed redesign of Promenade which will include a central cycle lane and new one-way systems.
The plans have proved deeply contentious but the authority has resisted requests to reconsider and they will legally come into effect as of next week, although work will not take place until next year.
However, the opposition Liberal Democrat councillors plan to call in the decision to allow for greater scrutiny on how the changes will impact travel around the town centre and seafront.
Among the changes planned, the location of the cycle lane has caused frequent questions, with opposition leader Cllr John Pugh questioning the merits of placing it separate to the existing cycle trail and in a location which makes it subject to four pedestrian crossings.
He told The Southport Lead: “It has to be reviewed and called in because as it stands the current plan does nothing for cyclists, hacks off motorists and businesses and costs millions.
“If it’s all about beautifying the front of the conference centre the council needs to make that clear before wreaking havoc with transport arrangements. There is no sensible cycling case for what they are doing.”
While some have questioned the loss of 40 parking spaces along the road - with the space instead used for coach parking, drop off spaces and to facilitate pedestrian crossings - the council says this will be offset by the creation of 142 spaces at the Marine Lake Events Centre.
It is that venue which is at the heart of the changes - and the opposition. It is forecast that it will bring in some 600,000 visitors a year which the council says gives the need for a safer surrounding area for people on foot, while critics argue it does not result in enough nearby parking when most people will arrive by car.
In relation to that point, a council spokesperson told The Southport Lead: “Where it is safe and practical to do so, parking has been retained on the southbound carriageway of the Promenade.
“To make the street safer for all users, the scheme introduces new pedestrian crossings, which requires some reorganisation of spaces. Along this section there are 17 on‑street remaining spaces, as well as coach and taxi drop-off bays. The MLEC development will provide a 142 space pay and display car park, which is designed to accommodate visitor demand.
“Independent studies of UK town centres show no clear link between parking supply and economic performance. The studies show that footfall, place quality - how nice a place it is to be in - and accessibility are far stronger factors of business success.
“Well‑designed streets with safe crossings and good walking and cycling access supports local trade with nearby off‑street and on‑street parking continuing to meet the needs of those who need (or choose) to drive.”
Funded by the Town Deal money awarded by the Conservative government, the council says the scheme - known as Les Transformations Phase 2 - is designed to to improve public safety and the amenity of the promenade and is in support of the MLEC development and Pier reopening.
As the two sides of the road will be segregated, it will result in changes which mean cars can no longer turn right from Promenade onto the Marine Way Bridge when travelling southbound and no longer turn onto Nevill Street from either direction.
Nevill Street will become one-way with an opposing cycle lane between West Street and Promenade but remain two-way between West Street and Lord Street. The traffic lights at the Nevill Street and Promenade junction, which will only allow left turns onto Promenade, will be removed.
Bold Street is also proposed to become one-way southbound from Promenade but remain two-way between Back Bath Street and Lord Street. To improve safety for pedestrians, four additional crossings are proposed on Promenade and these will be wider than existing ones.
Earlier this month, Cllr Pugh found himself in a spat with the council over his criticism of the central cycle lane and the longer journeys needed by those driving to and from Ocean Plaza or the seafront. The Lib Dem said his opposition was not to the introduction of a cycle lane but instead the manner in which it is planned.
He said: “I have had to conclude that the currently proposed scheme meets few of the requirements for good cycling investment. It duplicates an existing route, bizarrely forces cyclists into the middle of the road and criss crosses the route with eight pedestrian crossings.
