St.Helens launches £1.8 billion City Growth Strategy » Local Government » 24dash.com

St.Helens has unveiled its revised City Growth Strategy – the business plan for the growth of “St.Helens plc” - that includes 90 projects with a collective value of more than £1.8bn.

St.Helens was selected by the Government in 2002 as one of only four areas in the UK to pilot the original City Growth Strategy (CGS), which takes a radical, private sector-driven approach to local economic development based on maximising competitive strengths and locational advantages.

The original 10-year CGS was launched in 2003 but has been comprehensively revised after just 5 years because the vast majority of the original 70 projects have already been implemented or are well on their way to being delivered. Moreover 4 projects from the new CGS have also already been realised with a further 3 scheduled to complete by the end of 2008.

Since CGS was initiated, the number of businesses in St.Helens has increased by over 40%, more than 4000 jobs have been created, the town centre has been revitalised, and more than 2,400 new homes have been built.

Meanwhile St.Helens has also been highlighted as the 14th “happiest place in the country” and 2nd in the North West (Sheffield University study 2008), the most car friendly place in the North West (Virgin Money, 2007), and as one of the UK’s top 11 locations in terms of business start-up growth rates (Barclays Bank, 2007).

The 2008-2018 Strategy retains the original CGS vision for a revitalised St.Helens as a “vibrant modern place for enterprise and a regional location of choice”, plus the four main transformational themes - growing and strengthening the business base, raising aspirations, improving the physical environment and raising the Borough’s profile and image.

What has radically changed are the Action Areas within each theme plus the actual projects themselves - of the 90 identified projects in the revised CGS, 60 are brand new while 30 are continuations or extensions of original schemes. Collectively these will consolidate and build on recent successes, while also seeking to deliver new economic growth.

Councillor Brian Spencer, Leader of St.Helens Council says: “The fact that we have revised the original 10-year City growth Strategy after only 5 years is a reflection of our highly successful approach to regeneration in terms of our firm focus on delivery and working in close partnership, particularly with the private sector.

Change won’t happen overnight, however there is a real determination to achieve our ambitions so we can ensure that St.Helens continues to develop as a vibrant, modern and enterprising Borough at the heart of the Northwest.

This is reflected in the fact that the volume of the programme is now £1.86 billion, and the number of projects has increased to 90, highlighting the extent of the progress already made with regard to the post-industrial transformation of St.Helens.”

Steve Gange, Chair of the Enterprise Forum and HR Director of Pilkington plc adds: “St.Helens has made remarkable progress since the first City Growth Strategy was launched and this clear and confident programme of activity is intended to ensure that we continue to go from strength to strength for the next 10 years.

Clearly many challenges remain, particularly in the current economic climate, however we are confident St.Helens will weather the storm, underpinned by close public-private partnership working.

If anything the new CGS is even more deliverable than the last, particularly if you look at the how the funding stacks up with over £1.1 billion of capital projects already approved or underway”.