Next phase of New Brighton development unveiled

Nov 27 2008 By Lorna Hughes

New Brighton Lido

WITH New Brighton's new Floral Pavilion Theatre nearing completion, plans for the second phase of the £45m scheme have been unveiled.

Neptune Developments will submit a planning application - which already has outline planning approval - to Wirral Council at the end of next month for a "mixed-use" building featuring a 60-bed Premier Inn hotel, a 100-seat digital cinema, restaurants and bars and a Morrisons supermarket.

A large "public area" is also planned to separate this building from a second, crescent-shaped second building fronting the existing Marine Lake, which would be used for public performances.

The building would border the western shore of the Marine Lake and features single storey restaurants and bars with a two-storey sailing school.

At the western end of the site a new public lido is proposed behind a new Model Boating Lake.

The area between the lido and the main, mixed-use building would provide 750 car parking spaces.

Steve Parry, managing director of Neptune Developments, said: "The whole development is designed to bring people back into New Brighton and the food store will anchor that.

"The cinema is very important - there was a relatively successful cinema in Wallasey until the 1990s which closed because of competition from the cinema opening in Birkenhead.

"We've got a situation where Wallasey, and New Brighton in particular, hasn't had the facilities you would expect for any area with its population.

"What we're looking to do is to bring people back into the area throughout the year."

A planning application for the new model boating lake, seafront promenade, landscaping and a new protective wall to channel water from waves overtopping the sea wall back to the sea, was approved by the council in August.

The first phase of the Neptune development was the new Floral Pavilion, which has been completed on time and within budget, ready for the opening performance by Ken Dodd on December 13.

Wirral Council leader Steve Foulkes, who visited the theatre today (Thursday) said: "My first impression is a fantastic one and I think that will be impression everyone gets - that it has been worth the wait.

"It's been difficult, there has been opposition, but we have to keep the faith that the end result is worth all the aggro."

Architect Ken Martin said: "I am delighted the scheme is approaching completion. This has been a remarkable team effort with good will on all sides and we have finally produced an iconic cultural building which will change the image of New Brighton."

If planning permission is granted, work on phase two would begin in March 2009 and would take approximately 18 months, with completion by Christmas 2010.

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