Esther McVey: Great news for Wirral

Feb 20 2013

WHAT wonderful news for  Wirral that a car parts manufacturing plant is planned  for the Wirral Waters project.

Wirral Waters is one of the  first areas granted Enterprise Zone status by this government, and one of only six  sites in the UK to benefit from  generous Enhanced Capital  Allowances.

Having acquired Enterprise Zone status, owners  Peel Holdings applied and obtained planning permission –   in fact achieving the biggest  planning permission in Europe – to enable it to become an  International Trade Centre  and car manufacturing site,  benefiting from direct dock,  rail and motorway access.

This magnificent scheme  will see around 27,000 new  jobs created over the next 30  years and a 1,000 in the next  year.  Exactly the kind of  private enterprise we need in  this area, and what the Government's policies have set  out to deliver.

During the project, around  35 acres of derelict brownfield land in Birkenhead  Docks will be transformed into a site for manufacturing  activities and portside-based  business.  The plan was announced on Friday during a  tree-planting ceremony  marking the start of Peel  Holdings’ £4.5bn dockside regeneration scheme.  

This good news comes hot  on the heels of research undertaken by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, that  tracked the number and type  of companies that had increased in employment over  the past three years and Birkenhead now has the second- highest concentration of fast- growing companies in the  UK.

Wirral is already a great  place to live, work and visit,  and this great news will  simply serve to enhance Wirral’s growing reputation.