Liverpool

The city of Liverpool is located in the North West of England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. In 2004 Liverpool's waterfront was declared as a UNESCO World Heritage site, this reflects the city's importance in the development of the world's trading system and dock technology.

The docks are central to Liverpool's history, with the best known being Albert Dock. Restored in the 1980s, the Albert Dock is the largest collection of Grade I listed buildings in Britain. Part of the old dock complex is now the home to the Merseyside Maritime Museum (an Anchor Point of The European Route of Industrial Heritage (ERIH)), Museum of Liverpool Life and the Tate Liverpool.

In 2003, Liverpool was named European Capital of Culture for 2008 and has a rich history in popular music performing and visual arts. Liverpool also has two premier league football teams, Everton FC and Liverpool FC, and Aintree Racecourse is located to the north of the city and is home to the Home to the Grand National Steeplechase.

Recent Visits

Hazel Blears visited Liverpool Arena on 27 February 2008 to speak at the Voice08 Conference for Social Enterprise.

Children and Learners

• £7m of funding has been awarded from the Primary Capital Programme for every primary school in Liverpool to be refurbished between 2009-10. Crumbling buildings will be rebuilt and repaired as a priority.
• Liverpool City Council and Partnerships for Schools announced Liverpool’s £400m Building Schools for the Future programme. Five schools will be completely rebuilt, in phase one, six will be refurbished and 20 schools will benefit during phase three, affecting a total of 30,000 pupils.
• Developments in the Higher Level Skills Pathfinder have lead to Liverpool John Moores University securing over £35,000 to deliver new media production provision (June 2007).
• Bronte Youth and Community Centre, Liverpool was 1 of 7 projects to receive funding through the People’s Millions 2006. The project will use the money to upgrade an existing youth and community centre (June 2007).

Health and Well Being

• A £10m rehabilitation and intermediate care scheme at Aintree Hospital, funded from DoH Modernisation Funds and Trust Operational Capital.
• An NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust project, to deliver a new GP, primary and community care facilities, is in progress in Liverpool and Sefton. The scheme is being funded through a public private partnership with the Department of Health with the first phase, the project is costing around £23m

Crime

• Liverpool is one of 40 priority Respect Action areas where emphasis is being given to tackling anti-social behaviour. The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) is backing this work with £250,000 in 2008-09.

• Liverpool was one of the Priority 44 Partnerships for crime reduction and was awarded £10,000 through the Strategic Grant Fund for activities contributing to PSA1 performance. Liverpool has met, indeed exceeded by 7.5%, its PSA 1 Crime reduction target in 2007-08.  For the most recent twelve months (April 2007 to March 2008) BCSC crime is down by 23.1% from 2006/07 (34,087 vs 44,340 crimes) and by 28.5% since the baseline 2003/04 (34,087 vs. 47,682 crimes).

•  In 2008-09 the Merseyside Police Force will receive over £1.1m in Basic Command Unit Funding to assist front line police in countering front line crime. (A reduction in £0.4m from 2007-08.)

•   Initiatives to deal with these issues have included a series of 10  Weeks of Action in various parts of the city over the 2007-08 year. They involved co-ordinated actions by many agencies covering behaviour, truancy, clearing rubbish and graffiti, seizures of cars and providing housing and employment advice. The feedback reports show that they have been very successful and well received by residents. Further Weeks are planned in 2008-09.

• Liverpool has received £69 million in Area Based Grant (ABG) in 2008-09. This includes over £593,000 from the Building Safer Communities Fund (BSCF).  The BSCF and other elements of the ABG, notably Working Neighbourhoods Fund, are being used in a number of ways to reduce crime, including:

Street  Crime Wardens               £1,000,000

Citysafe CCTV                              £300,000

Domestic & racial violence               £75,000

Joint Agency group                          £75,000

Community Pay-back scheme          £45,000

Abandoned Vehicles/ Cube-it          £130,000

• In addition, £140,000 was awarded in 2007 by the Gun and Gang Task Group to help tackle gun and gang crime.

• The Merseyside Police receives £515,574 in Basic Command Unit funding in 2008-09 in respect of Liverpool which contributes to the work of the Liverpool Crime and Disorder Partnership.

Transport

• Nearly £10m has been allocated to Liverpool in the Local Transport Capital Settlement for 2007-08. This includes nearly £7m integrated transport, and just over £3m for maintenance. Merseyside’s Local Transport Plan (LTP) 2 has been assessed as ‘excellent’, along with its implementation of LTP1.
• Department for Transport has identified a £7m scheme to reinstate the Olive Mount Chord as showing strong potential. The scheme will facilitate the growth of rail traffic operating within the Port of Liverpool and increase capacity for passenger rail traffic at Lime Street Station.
• The Hall Lane scheme is awaiting the outcome of recent public inquiry. It plans to provide a major new gateway to the city from the national motorway network and improve environmental conditions for local residents. The City Council is developing the detailed design for the scheme with early contractor involvement so that construction works can commence on site at the earliest opportunity.
• Liverpool City Council has prioritised five routes across the city for Urban Safety Management schemes, adopting a more proactive approach to road safety management.
• The City Council is working with partners Liverpool Vision and Merseytravel to implement the City Centre Movement Strategy, which aims to improve the environment within the City centre for residents, tourists and visitors, through a package of measures to reduce through traffic in the core area.

Social Inclusion and Regeneration

• Almost £61.9m of New Deal for Communities funding has been allocated to the Kensington neighbourhood to assistance towards a regeneration programme over a ten year period, ending in 2010
• The 2007 Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) has placed Liverpool as the most deprived area in England with an overall score of 46.97, compared to the England median of 17.58 and a regional median score of 24.23. The most deprived Super Output Areas (SOA) in the country is in Speke. 55% of Liverpool’s SOAs are in the 10% most deprived of all SOAs. This shows the extent of the deprivation and the gap that needs to be overcome particularly in terms of employment and skills.  Extra funding to help deal with the deprivation includes the Working Neighbourhoods Fund, which is part of the ABG.  This fund includes the former NRF (Neighbourhood Renewal Fund) and DAF (Deprived Areas Fund) and Liverpool is receiving £31,288,657 in 2008-09 to improve services in the areas with the worst levels of deprivation and worklessness.
• Over £0.5m has been allocated from the Allocation of Working Neighbourhoods fund (WNF) in 2008/09 to support the participation of Liverpool’s Voluntary and Community sector to enhance community empowerment.
• £4.8m of Neighbourhood Element funding has been awarded from 2006 to 2010 to improve the quality of life of people living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods and ensure service providers are more responsive to local needs.

European Funding

• Merseyside Special Investment Fund (MSIF) is providing £80m to assist new business start-up and growth in Merseyside, backed with £36m of EU funding.
• The Kings Waterfront development, a new £145m Arena and Convention Centre, is supported with £50m of EU funding. It will create 2,200 new jobs, bringing in around £51m in additional visitor spend each year.
• A new £19m cruise liner terminal at Liverpool’s pier head was officially opened on 21 September 2007. The terminal, which was made possible with £7.8m of EU funding, will allow the largest cruise ships and naval vessels to berth in the city centre once again.
• The Liverpool Local Strategic Partnership has received £16.7m of EU funding to enhance its Neighbourhood Renewal Programme.  The Programme has five distinct strands which are: Creating Employment Opportunities; Alternative Provision for Young People; Supporting the Most Excluded; Creating Learning Communities; Building Positive Communities.
• £950,000 of European Regional Development Funding was invested in the bid for 2008 Capital of Culture. A further £12.63m has been allocated for activity in 2008 and the lead up to it.