EM1 Former Cammell Laird’s Shipyard Proposal
Approximately 57.0 hectares of land at the former Cammell Laird shipyard, Birkenhead, as shown on the Proposals Map, is allocated for a mix of B1 (Business), B2 (General Industry), B8 (Storage and Distribution) and D2 (Assembly and Leisure) uses, as defined in the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987, together with use for higher education purposes.
Other compatible uses may also be allowed providing it is established that they are necessary to secure and bring forward the overall redevelopment of the site for industrial and business use, subject to all the other relevant policies of the Plan.
Reasoned justification :
5.13 The Cammell Laird shipyard closed at the end of July 1993. The yard owners VSEL have indicated that parts of the yard will be mothballed until 1994 in the hope that ship-building related uses will be attracted to the site. Should this be unsuccessful, the site will represent a major opportunity to secure new employment within the inner urban area. Substantial preparatory work will, however, be needed before the site is capable of redevelopment. Merseyside Development Corporation, within whose boundaries the site is located, have begun work on this process, recently completing a new spine road through the site.
5.14 The range of uses set out in Proposal EM1 provide the best prospects for attracting new investment and jobs to the site within a short timescale. Allocating the site for a single use would probably not achieve this aim given the often lengthy timescales involved in securing this type of investment and the fact that a strategic single use-site of this type is already available at Hooton Park, nearby, in Ellesmere Port and Neston.
5.15 The Cammell Laird site also lies within the designated Coastal Zone and any proposals for the site will, therefore, also have to satisfy Policy CO1, which can be found in Section 20 of the UDP. The site is also considered to have particular potential for enhancing public access to the Mersey coast and for coast-related tourism and recreation, subject to Proposal TL3/3, which can be found in Section 10 of the Plan.