Although plans in various forms have been circulating for some time, decisions on the removal of two Birkenhead flyovers and a new announcement on Wirral Waters seems to indicate that the region’s regeneration is set to see real progress over the next couple of years.
Where is regeneration set to take place?
Following the cancellation of a £30 Mn regeneration plan in 2016, a more ambitious proposal was put forward by Wirral Council. While there have been plenty of false starts, the regeneration of Birkenhead looks set to begin. With projects such as the Urban Splash and Peel L&P project set to begin delivering 350 homes to the East Float area shortly, and the approval of the removal of two flyovers in the Birkenhead Central/Hind Street area along with £8 Mn in funding announced by the Liverpool City Regions Metro Mayor, Steve Rotheram.
Rotheram also added:
When it is finished, this project should help to breathe new life into the area, create hundreds of affordable homes for local people and bring communities closer together.
What does the plan involve?
Rather than a single plan for regeneration, the proposals include several developments with a number of different partners. While the East Float project will feature a joint £60 Mn project between Urban Splash and Peel L&P, it is only a part of the wider Peel development of the waterfront, while the Birkenhead Central Gateway project has yet to announce official partners.
However, while we may not know all there is to know about the various regeneration projects, we do know that the Birkenhead Central Gateway project is set to make use of the expanded Hind Street brownfield site in order to create an area of commercial and housing development that will potentially deliver hundreds of new family homes. The Peel L&P project, however, which has been announced and re-announced for what feels like a decade or more, has been busy laying the groundwork for a hugely ambitious 300-acre waterfront redevelopment which is set to begin in earnest between now and 2025 at which point they expect five key locations to be completed.
What does this mean for investors in the Wirral’s property market?
The Wirral has received a host of exciting news in the last week – with the Liverpool City Region being granted freeport status at the latest budget announcement, the announcement that the Urban Splash and Peel project is to start taking shape this year, and the latest approval for the removal of the Birkenhead flyovers. Along with an extension to the stamp duty, this news should encourage anyone in two minds about investing in the area to take the plunge.
The regeneration plans, which are aiming to markedly improve the look and feel of the Birkenhead and Seacombe area as well as the health and happiness of residents mean that investment should see handsome returns as the changes begin to take place.
2020/21 has proven to be a perfect storm for the improvement of the Wirral property market as a whole, with the pandemic allowing former city dwellers to seek homes further from the city as home working became a permanent option for many as well as Brexit, for all its many possible downsides, appearing to prompt massive investment in the nation’s too long overlooked shipping and maritime industries.
All of this contributes to the huge potential that the Wirral and specifically, in this case, for lettings in Birkenhead and Seacombe areas have to provide fantastic returns – as the local area experiences a boom in industry, tourism and commerce over the next five years.
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