Investors and business occupiers are being sought to take up space on a rebuilt high street next to one of the most famous football clubs in the world.
Anfield, home to Liverpool Football Club, is to get a new high street with brand new shops, commercial premises, homes and apartments.
Liverpool City Council and its partners unveiled their vision for Walton Breck Road, which is the main thoroughfare in the neighbourhood, to businesses yesterday (Thursday, 29 June) at an event in the new Main Stand at Liverpool FC.
Work to demolish scores of derelict buildings on the street has already started.
New retail, commercial, residential and leisure spaces are to be built over the next two years. They will be available for sale and to let to interested investors and operators.
The road is also going to be redesigned to create wider pavements and make it more pedestrian-friendly, with the creation of new outdoor spaces and high quality landscaping.
It is hoped the changes will attract new businesses keen to take advantage of a unique location next to one of the world’s most famous football clubs.
The work, which will be carried out in phases over the next two years, will be the latest stage in an ambitious £260m regeneration plan announced in 2013 which is being driven by a partnership of Liverpool City Council, Your Housing Group and Liverpool FC.
Rejuvenation of the high street was identified at that time as a key project and is to be led by developer Keepmoat working in partnership with a company called Priority Spaces.
The overall regeneration plans have received overwhelming backing from the local community.
Existing businesses are being given the opportunity to take on new premises but the partners are keen to attract new businesses into the area, including national high street brands and local independent companies.
New trees are to be planted, new open space created and pedestrian areas paved with high quality finishes. There will also be areas which can accommodate te
mporary markets or retail units, as well as facilities for community events.
The proposals will also see a new tree-lined avenue, with landscaped gardens, stretching up what is now Vienna Street and Venice Street from the high street to Robson Street.
The council has been seeking residents’ views on the proposals with many attending an exhibition at the Isla Gladstone, Stanley Park to view the plans in detail and offer their views.
In the last three years, some 398 new homes in the area have been built, over 300 homes refurbished and 238 substandard and derelict properties demolished.
Anfield Sports and Community Centre has been refurbished and a new health centre and school have been built and opened. Stanley Park has also undergone a major programme of improvements.
In the next two years there are plans to build a new hotel adjacent to the High Street as well as further housing renovation and building. Talks on the hotel development are at an advanced stage.
Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson said: “We believe we have created a vision for the High Street which will absolutely transform the area, supporting existing shops and businesses and attracting new ones.
“We now want businesses and investors to come forward so we can help them take up what is a unique opportunity.”
Your Housing Group Chief Executive Brian Cronin said: “Anyone visiting Anfield in the last year can see the improvements which have already been made.
Much has also been done through the delivery of new-build homes and the imaginative refurbishment of traditional terraces. We can already see the brighter Anfield which is emerging.”
For more information please go to: www.investinanfield.co.uk
