Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram has said he will show Prime Minister Andy Burnham the huge opportunities that the city and region has as the Labour Party arrives for its annual conference. The Labour Conference returns to Liverpool this weekend, running from Sunday to Wednesday at the Arena and Convention Centre. It is the first conference the party has held with Liverpool-born Andy Burnham as its leader and Prime Minister.
Mayoral Development Corporation push
Mayor Rotheram is expected to meet with the Prime Minister and Chancellor John Healey this weekend and will be drumming up support for his planned Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC), the formation of which was first announced at the end of last year. The aim of the MDC is to provide the vehicle and body that will accelerate regeneration across the city region, with a specific aim to unlock one of the country's largest brownfield sites around Liverpool's northern docks. This could fast-track the development of thousands of new homes and numerous major commercial developments.
The proposed zone, which would be the first of its kind in the region, would focus on building on the momentum created by Everton FC's new Hill Dickinson Stadium at Liverpool Waters. Ahead of his meetings with the two most powerful figures in government, Mayor Rotheram told the ECHO: "The government is coming to Liverpool but isn't it really refreshing to have someone in charge who genuinely understands this place where it is being held?"
'Previous governments haven't favoured this place'
"I think this is a unique opportunity for us. We are rightly proud to have the Labour Party conference come here year after year but this is a special one for me and a special one for us," he said. Speaking about his friend the Prime Minister, the Mayor added: "Andy is acutely aware that previous governments haven't favoured this place and that there is an opportunity to correct some of that."
"We have to be clear that he hasn't got the ability to put right all the wrongs of the last 40 years in this city region, but what he can do is help us to better explain to the government, the business cases we have been putting forward for some of the marquee projects that we have got. I am absolutely certain that with a government who understands this area and the opportunities and latent potential here, we will get a more favourable result."
'Massive development opportunity'
Mayor Rotheram says he will be stressing the potential of the Mayoral Development Corporation for creating growth here in the Liverpool City Region that will in turn benefit the country. He said: "As an Everton fan, Andy knows the Hill Dickinson Stadium well but around it and beyond is a huge area we want to regenerate, where we want to create jobs and to attract investment. There is a huge spatial plan for that area that we have."
"It normally takes two years to get a mayoral development corporation up and running but we are looking to have that completed in at least half that time, maybe less thanks to a remarkable team effort. This will mean the government can have confidence that there will be a body in place to oversee that development. The conversations I will be having with both the Prime Minister and the Chancellor mean I will be able to point out that this is a massive development opportunity with a return to the Exchequer. We have a business case that really does stack up. We will be asking for the flexibilities that mean we can get stuff done much more quickly through proper devolution."
'Lots of problems, lots of opportunities'
As well as Liverpool's northern docks, the mayor said he will be promoting huge housing plans for Wirral, known as Left Bank, which could see 10,000 new homes, regenerating brownfield land along the banks of the Mersey, from Bromborough to New Brighton. Asked how his friend may be feeling ahead of his first party conference as leader and that all important speech on Tuesday, Mayor Rotheram added: "I think if you don't get nervous there is something wrong with you, this is your first party conference as leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister of the country."
"So I am sure there will be some jangling nerves, but the great thing is that he is a natural communicator. Even if he didn't have a script he could get up there and talk for 45 minutes and you wouldn't be bored because of how he can articulate the concerns people have and the ideas to help rectify them. I am very confident that the content of his speech will be right but also the passion and the way he will deliver it will be spot on as well. What Andy has been saying and will be saying is that yes there are lots and lots of problems for us as a country, but there are also lots and lots of opportunities out there for us to work together and tackle them."
