North Liverpool Strategic Regeneration Framework Brief
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North Liverpool Strategic Regeneration Framework Brief CONTENTS Page 1. Introduction 3 2. The Study Area 5 3. The Brief 6 4. Study Budget 7 5. Selection of Consultant Team 7 6. Timetable and Fee Submission 8 2 North Liverpool Strategic Regeneration Framework 1. Introduction 1.1. Liverpool Vision and its partners Liverpool City Council, the Northwest Regional Development Agency, Homes and Communities Agency, Sefton Borough Council and Government Office Northwest wish to commission a Strategic Regeneration Framework for North Liverpool. The purpose of the Framework is to articulate a comprehensive vision for the revitalisation of the people, the place and the economy of North Liverpool, defining its role, what it can become and the means by which the vision can be delivered for the benefit of existing and future residents, visitors and businesses. 1.2. North Liverpool1 is one of the country’s foremost regeneration challenges; its opportunities are immense but there remains a physical and socio-economic legacy from decades of industrial decline which makes North Liverpool a major strategic priority for both Liverpool and Sefton Councils, their national and regional partners and other stakeholders. This legacy can be addressed if we collectively seize the critical mass of housing, commercial and economic opportunities and engage with business, people and communities to ensure lasting change. 1.3. The aspiration for North Liverpool is to realise its potential so that it can contribute positively to economic growth and competitiveness of the city region, attract investment, provide a supportive and thriving business environment, become a healthy and attractive residential area and provide real opportunities for current and future residents to contribute to and benefit from sustainable economic growth. 1.4. North Liverpool covers the Kirkdale, County, Everton and Anfield wards of Liverpool and the Derby and Linacre wards of Sefton. However, the challenges and opportunties extend beyond these six wards within Liverpool and Sefton. The SRF is a collaborative proposal focussing on neighbourhoods which have a shared geography of the dockland edge stretching north from Liverpool city centre to Bootle and linked by the key gateways into and out of the area and the strategic sites associated with these including the A565 and the A580. Sefton and Liverpool’s partners, already working together on key projects, are committed to continuing to pool their experience and resource to help deliver lasting change through joint strategy and actions. 1.5. North Liverpool is not a single homogeneous entity but a series of urban districts, with distinct communities, whose morphology has been shaped by their historic relationship to the Port of Liverpool and the city centre. Deindustrialisation and the consequent population loss has impacted on the sustainability of neighbourhoods and contributed to an unbalanced housing market dominated by social housing. 1.6. Despite a range of previous interventions North Liverpool remains one of the UKs major regeneration challenges. Most of the UK’s major cities have areas with similar characteristics but North Liverpool is exceptional because alongside the scale and severity of deprivation there are opportunities of major significance such as Peel’s proposals for Liverpool Waters, the proposed expansion of the Port of Liverpool and the plans of Liverpool Football Club associated with their new stadium and plaza developments. Importantly the area adjoins Liverpool City Centre the economic 3 North Liverpool Strategic Regeneration Framework driver of the Liverpool city region. It is vital that North Liverpool should contribute to and benefit from this in a significant way. These opportunities, if appropriately harnessed, can provide a basis for the revitalisation of the area and ultimately deliver wider benefits for the city region. 1.7. The physical connectivity between these opportunities is important but the social and strategic connectivity is vital. In socio-economic terms the area is characterised by severe social deprivation, community safety, and long term health and worklessness issues. In parts of North Liverpool the unemployment rate approaches 50%, some 50% of working age adults have no skills and in some cases it is not uncommon for half the working age population to be on a form of benefit. Business start-up rates though improving continue to be below the city average and well below that for the region. 1.8. The Strategic Regeneration Framework will address areas of opportunity and need across the whole of North Liverpool and will take particular account of the residential community needs and aspirations and the commercial prospect represented by the Northshore area which has the potential in the long term for significant jobs and housing growth for the city, given its designation as a Growth Point. It must take into account the proposals for the expansion of the Port of Liverpool which have considerable potential to drive economic growth within the city region. It should consider North Liverpool in the context of the New Heartlands Housing Market Renewal Area, essentially as the inner core of the Mersey conurbation. The SRF should also position North Liverpool and Northshore within the emerging economic and spatial strategic framework for the wider Atlantic Gateway area being developed by the Northwest Regional Development Agency. 1.9. A range of programmes are currently being delivered on a regional and sub regional basis to try and address the challenges of North Liverpool. These are being delivered through national programmes in the case of Housing Market Renewal Programme. The key priorities of the Liverpool City Region Multi Area Agreement are also of direct relevance to North Liverpool, particularly the City Employment Strategy, Transport and Super-Port proposals. 1.10. Sefton and Liverpool Councils co-operated in the successful delivery of a range of ERDF funded projects in the Atlantic Gateway Strategic Investment Area which spans the study area. In addition to current collaboration within housing renewal, the two Councils have created an effective entry-to-employment and enterprise stimulation framework for the six wards via a single intermediary (Enterprise Gateway). The North Liverpool Development Plan and the Sefton Integrated Investment Strategy capture the range of current programmes. The key challenge is how to connect up programmes more fully to create a step change. 1.11. The SRF should also assist the Single Conversation with the Homes and Communities Agency and guide the development priorities of emerging local investment plan principles for North Liverpool. 1 North Liverpool is the area defined at paragraph 1.4 and in Figure 1 on page 5, it extends over two local authority areas, Liverpool and Sefton. 4 North Liverpool Strategic Regeneration Framework 2. The Study Area 2.1. The Regeneration Framework will of necessity be flexible in its geography, at its core will be the four wards identified within the North Liverpool Economic Development plan of Anfield, Everton, Kirkdale and County and across the boundary with Sefton incorporating Linacre and Derby; the inner core housing geography within the Newheartlands Housing Market Renewal (HMR) programme and those areas of economic focus identified by the Step Clever programme. Key gateways which serve the communities should also be considered as part of this brief bringing in other areas within the City’s inner core but also key strategic housing and commercial redevelopment sites on the key gateways including the A580. The SRF will also consider the broader strategic context of Liverpool; the implications for North Liverpool of the key actions set out in the Liverpool City Region Multi Area Agreement and of the long term potential for growth which the Atlantic Gateway Study is expected to identify. Figure 1 study area 5 North Liverpool Strategic Regeneration Framework 3. The Brief 3.1. The North Liverpool SRF is required to provide a realistic assessment of all the area’s assets and liabilities in terms of population demographics and socio economic characteristics, housing market challenges, commercial needs, skills and employment issues, business base and sectoral mix and environment and connectivity. The SRF should identify core themes and action areas and assess the extent to which these are being adequately addressed through current programmes and where there are gaps, what can be done and how they can be delivered more effectively and coherently. The SRF should: a) Clearly articulate a Vision for North Liverpool which can be shared by residents and stakeholders and identify specific aims and objectives to deliver the vision b) Assess the impacts of previous programmes and critically review the extent to which existing policy, plans and programmes and organisations have the capacity to deliver the Vision c) Provide a high level assessment of North Liverpool’s strategic policy context nationally, regionally and sub regionally d) Identify and quantify the scale of transformation needed to narrow the key quality of life and economic opportunity gaps for residents to ensure a thriving local economic base and a balanced housing market e) Provide a critical assessment of the strategies and actions needed to guide the direction of travel for physical, economic and social development and integration f) Identify the opportunities for private investment and the potential for new public private partnership mechanisms to deliver the Strategic