Green light for a Liverpool city centre mobility strategy

A project to improve how people get around Liverpool city centre has been given the green light.

Liverpool City Council’s Cabinet has agreed to accept more than half a million pounds to develop a mobility strategy that will build on the recent enhancement of key routes such as Lime Street and The Strand.

Approval of the funding, from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, paves the way for a review of the outstanding issues and challenges around mobility and connectivity and to set out a roadmap that will help the city’s drive to be carbon neutral by 2030.

The overall aim of the strategy, which will also complement the council’s Clean Air Plan, is to make it as easy and safe as possible for people to make short trips into and around the city centre by walking, cycling and using public transport.

There will also be an emphasis on enabling people to seamlessly switch between these travel modes.

A key element of this review will be to also assess how to improve the area near the former Churchill Way Flyover, close to the Queensway Tunnel.

This analysis will inform the St George’s Gateway project, which the City Council is currently devising a masterplan for to create high quality public realm improvements along with a reconfiguration of the highway network around the tunnel entrance. This work will be guided by the council’s recently adopted Public Realm strategy.

Funding will also be set aside to produce a summary of public transport options for the masterplan at Upper Central, which covers the critical corridor past Lime Street station up to Liverpool’s Knowledge Quarter.

This masterplan aims to set the framework to deliver a world-class new development area for mixed uses that can elevate the city’s education offering with business potential, and leisure uses.

Liverpool City Council will also use some of this funding programme to develop a new model to improve the delivery of highway maintenance services across the city.

Councillor Dan Barrington, Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Highways, said: “This funding is key to kick-starting work on a number of projects which will vastly improve Liverpool city centre’s environment.

“Much progress has already been made to start rebalancing how we use the city centre as pedestrians, cyclists and public transport users, but there is a lot more still to do.

“This is the next phase in the journey to understand what is required to make the city a much healthier place to live, work, study and visit. Projects like St George’s Gateway and Upper Central are fundamental to delivering a true modal shift in how we travel around the city centre which will eventually benefit tens of thousands of people every week.

“A better connected, easier and safer to use city centre is not just good for the environment, it also makes it more attractive as a place to invest in – and so this money is a fantastic investment in our future health and wealth.”