The Assistant Director: Chief Regeneration Officer introduced the report which provided details of a new Economic Strategy for Wirral.

The Wirral Plan: A 2020 Vision set out a shared partnership vision to improve outcomes for Wirral residents, supported by a Growth Plan which translated Wirral’s ambitions for economic growth into a clear direction of travel.

Over the five years of the Growth Plan, significant progress had been made in positioning Wirral as a place to live, work, visit and invest.

A new strategy, a Wirral Plan 2021 - 2026, had been developed  to provide a set of goals and objectives for the Council and its partners to work to until 2026

Alongside this, the Birkenhead 2040 Framework was being developed to support a transformational regeneration programme along the ‘Left Bank’ of the River Mersey stretching from New Brighton to Bromborough, with a particular focus on the creation of a sustainable, waterfront urban garden community in Birkenhead. This was one of the largest and most ambitious regeneration programmes in the UK with the potential to create up to 20,000 new homes over the next 20 years through a radical re-use of neglected and brownfield sites, underpinned by the emerging Local Plan.

Members queried if there was a separate strategy to attract inward investment to the area.

The Director or Regeneration and Place commented that part of his remit was to ensure a supply of suitable accommodation for businesses interested in sites in Wirral. Previously there had been a deficit of Grade A premises, but new office space would be going live late in 2021. In terms of Wirral Waters, this was being de-risked and overlayed in terms of a range of projects and initiatives including the Freeport designation and the Maritime Knowledge Hub project which involved local universities and the maritime accelerator project. A workshop was suggested to discuss this in more detail.

Councillor Karl Greaney queried how the project would be monitored. The AD: Chief Regeneration Office confirmed this would be critical to the success and regular reports would be brought back to committee to ensure there is sufficient oversight and monitoring.

The Chair advised Members that he had requested the director seriously consider a single point of contact for this project, to avoid any speculative contact.

Resolved –

That the Wirral Economic Strategy 2021 - 2026, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report, be approved.