Discussing the politics of regeneration around the Northern Docks, Bramley-Moore (now completed) and the wider North Liverpool, South Sefton area and beyond without an obvious plan in place, let alone a specific plan relating to the infrastructure surrounding Bramley-Moore, is very much putting the cart before the horse.
Yet the apparent absence of a plan cannot hide the importance of developing and managing the political relationships that will ultimately provide the funding, legal and development structures enabling such development to take place.
The three most relevant political entities/structures are the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Liverpool City Council and ultimately, the UK Government.
All Labour controlled, all with the apparent commitment to devolution, regeneration and economic growth.
We should be pushing against an open door.
There should be a recognisable alignment of interests. Yet, if there is, then it is still difficult to recognise easily.
Politics aside, to be included in that alignment of interests should be the existing landowners.
Why is development so important?
It seems like an obvious question to answer, but whilst it is important to meet local policy objectives and such measures as government growth targets, the reality is that the importance of development is the better life prospects it brings to ordinary people – better job prospects, better standards of living, hope and perhaps most importantly of all new ambitions and horizons for young children.
The political bodies in charge of regeneration have a custodian role in improving the lives of people who have to live, seek work and educate their children in economically deprived areas.
However, that doesn’t seem to be the case. There’s something fundamentally questionable about a planning process controlled by local authorities (and in the case of Bramley-Moore, Central Government, albeit due to heritage concerns at the time), that promotes the development potential – in fact makes the development potential a significant part of the planning approval process, yet then does little or nothing to accelerate or ensure that the development occurs.
Indeed in the case of Everton, a private company that invests £800 million into an area starved of investment, is arguably questioned or suggested that the difficulties of the previous ownership could be a barrier to that investment.
MIPIM
This week sees the annual MIPIM conference in Cannes in the South of France. MIPIM is the platform upon which urban areas from around the world flex their muscles and sell new development plans and future development opportunities on a city by city basis.
The Liverpool City Region is represented at MIPIM. In the conference brochure the City Region highlights £11 billion of investment opportunities.
Of the £11 billion of investment opportunities, the new stadium at Bramley-Moore warrants a one line entry (page 23 for those interested) as supporting evidence of a £50 million (by gross development value) hotel project which may receive planning approval by November 2025.
Liverpool Waters is mentioned also – the £600 million Central Docks residential/mixed use development that received planning approval in 2023. Construction is due to start in July 2025.
Liverpool City Region Investment Guide for MIPIM can be read in full here.
Meanwhile over in Manchester
In a masterstroke of timing and public relations, especially when stringent cost cutting affecting many of the lower paid employees of Manchester has received such justifiable bad press, Sir Jim Ratcliffe strides into MIPIM with plans for a new stadium designed by Sir Norman Foster (or his company at least). Incidentally a stadium which in many areas seems to have copied the Bramley-Moore model of proximity to the pitch, maximum steepness of stands and an acoustic design to maximise noise levels.
Manchester, in contrast to Liverpool and particularly the Northern docks area, already has the Old Trafford Regeneration Taskforce, chaired by Lord Sebastian Coe. He claims the scheme can have a “bigger impact than London 2012 and be a wider regeneration catalyst than the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games”. He added that “Barcelona had never been a top 20 destination prior to the Olympics but had never been out of the top four since”.
The role of Andy Burnham
The use of public funding to build the new Manchester United Stadium has been wrongly reported, but public money will be sought to assist the regeneration and infrastructure where needed. The scale of such dwarfs anything provided or offered to the area around Bramley-Moore.
At MIPIM, Manchester Metro Mayor, Andy Burnham said the following: “It is for Manchester United to fund their new home,” he said “There will be no public money, and that will not change in the duration of this project. And I do want that message to be heard loud and clear today.”
However what he did say that has particular relevance to Bramley-Moore and the surrounding areas, in the role of a Mayoral Development Corporation in acquiring land “to drive the regeneration of the area around Old Trafford, through the use of compulsory purchase powers (if necessary).
“It allows you to unlock knotty land assembly issues if you need to use those powers. So it de-risks the land assembly part of it,” he said.
I made the point earlier regarding alignment of interests, a phrase I have used before in previous articles and discussions. Interestingly, Andy Burnham used it in the context of de-risking the entire project and redevelopment when talking of landowners, “We’ve had those conversations with some of those, those landowners, and it’s a strange project where people are more aligned than I’ve ever seen before.”
For regeneration to take place, the stadium in moving to a new location (as with Bramley-Moore) becomes the driver for that regeneration. This is the case with Manchester United. Their COO, Collette Roche is convinced Manchester United can fund their new stadium, but she knows that the business case becomes stronger with the regeneration prospects.
They all know (the club, the local authorities and the landowners) that an alignment of interests is the best means of achieving all of their objectives, collectively and individually. They also know that under Andy Burnham, he’ll put the legal structures and frameworks in place to force the alignment if necessary.
Back to our city, Liverpool
And that’s the lesson for the Liverpool City Region, for the club (who obviously supports all regeneration and infrastructure investment – that’s not questioned in the slightest) and ultimately the landowners.
Everyone has to work together. Of course, everything has to be done on commercial terms satisfying each stakeholder, but ultimately, the back stop, the legal structures and means are available to pull people into line who are inhibiting or delaying the opportunity.
Time is important – Sir Jim Ratcliffe references it specifically in this interview. It’s important for Central Government in terms of their electoral cycles, it has to be important at local level to fulfil their custodian roles and local ambitions for their electorate.
In Liverpool, in the northern docks, for Everton and all other stakeholders, we are no different we don’t have the luxury of time. We, as they are doing in Manchester must press on. We have the advantage, our stadium is built, now funded sustainably with long term financing, we have secure ownership.
There can be no reason for all other parties not to step up to the plate.