Destination Kirkby is an ambitious plan to revitalise Kirkby. It is a massive opportunity to redevelop the town centre – an opportunity to benefit from more than £400 million of investment and to create 2,300 new jobs.
We want to transform Kirkby. We want to make your town a leading retail and leisure destination for Merseyside and the wider region, with new shops, bars and restaurants. The plans include a Tesco supermarket and a wide range of modern retail facilities, bringing 50 leading high street brands to Kirkby. As well as creating jobs, these will offer great choices for residents and shoppers, conveniently positioned at the very heart of the town.
Public transport improvements are also afoot and these will make Kirby more accessible for everyone, while the development will also include generous amounts of public space and landscaped areas. All of this will act as an economic magnet, attracting even more investment and business into the town.
At the centre of these plans is Everton Football Club’s exciting new stadium. Hosting a top premiership club will help put Kirkby on the map. And the possibility of England hosting the 2018 World Cup brings the mouth-watering prospect of watching the world’s best players here in Kirkby.
Everton’s community programme is already recognised as one of the best in the country and residents will benefit from its range of programmes, including the use of the hugely popular Study Centre which will give local children access to top-of-the-range IT and learning facilities. The club will also work to promote increased awareness of healthier lifestyle choices throughout the whole community.
On a practical note, there are 19 Premier League home fixtures a season, from August to May – fewer than two matches a month. Not surprisingly, concerns have been expressed locally regarding the traffic and noise that a stadium would generate on match days. We recognise that these are valid concerns, which is why our proposals include a park & ride scheme, encouraging supporters to swap to buses to get to the ground. We will also work with Knowsley council to arrange adequate security measures on match days as well as generally tidying the local area after a match.
The new Tesco Extra store will provide 700 jobs – more than 300 of which have been earmarked for long-term unemployed people in Kirkby. This commitment stands to reduce the number of people in the area claiming Job Seekers Allowance by at least 25%. Research indicates that the volume of employment opportunities that will be delivered by Destination Kirkby could actually see total claimant levels halved. In addition, Tesco will be working closely with Kirkby Community College to develop skills in the local workforce. As well as providing new jobs, Tesco is keen to promote positive career development for its staff.
Taken together, these plans will lay the foundations for a vibrant, exciting new economic hub on Merseyside. But to be truly successful, all of this change and regeneration needs the involvement of the local community. Opportunities like this don’t come along very often.
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